Scars of Mirrodin Spoiler Rundown

by Marlon Egolf

For many magic players, the most exciting part of the magical year is the few weeks leading up to the release of the large September set, AKA the set that will define standard and limited formats for the conceivable future. This year’s set, Scars of Mirrodin, has been the most anticipated large set in recent memory. Scars is the first set that has returned to a previously visited plane (other than the “base plane” of Dominaria) and many of those who enjoyed the first go-round in the lovely land of Mirrodin are eager to return to the metallic world.

For me, the first Mirrodin block marked my return to magic after a long hiatus. I had previously played from 1994 until quitting in 1998, and hadn’t so much as picked up a card since then until my friend and now roommate Hans got me back into magic in 2004, during the tail end of Mirrodin block limited. I didn’t play much of the set, doing a grand total of one booster draft (my first ever draft!), and cracking about 12 packs of Darksteel before Champions of Kamigawa was released and the draft format rotated. Nevertheless, I soon became re-infatuated with this wonderful game, and made sure to look back at all the sets I had missed during my break and familiarize myself with the cards that had been printed in my absence. So whereas my memories of the original Mirrodin aren’t from drafting the set, I’ve had more than enough exposure to the cards themselves to have my interest in Scars of Mirrodin piqued as much as any other player from that era.

Anyway, enough with my long-winded introduction, we have a spoiler to review! Here’s the thing; at the time of this writing, there’s only been about one-third of the set spoiled (not including basic lands of course), and almost half of those cards are rares/mythics. With so little information available about the commons of the set, the speed of the format, mana fixing, etc, it’s impossible to accurately predict how powerful a card will be in Scars limited, other than the obvious bombs. Therefore, this review will be mainly about applications of the spoiled cards in constructed formats, although I will mention certain cards for limited as well.

Without further adieu:

MYTHICS

Elspeth Tirel 3WW
Planeswalker – Elspeth
+2: You gain 1 life for each creature you control.
-2: Put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
-5: destroy all other permanents except for lands and tokens
4

The first thing I ask when I see a new planeswalker is, “Can it protect itself”? Regardless of how powerful the card is in a vacuum, you’re not going to get enough value out of a ‘walker if it dies right away. We all remember the hype over Shards of Alara’s Sarkhan Vol. Sarkhan had an incredibly powerful and reasonably quick to reach ultimate, but this was overshadowed by the fact that he had no way to stop himself from being attacked. In contrast, this incarnation of Elspeth might be the best at protecting herself of any planeswalker we’ve seen so far. Putting three 1/1 tokens into play should easily be enough to hold off any potential attacks. The big question is what to do next. Her +2 ability has no effect on the board whatsoever, and really only serves as a way to get to her ultimate ability. She’s certainly powerful, she just needs a home. You can’t really just throw her into U/W control like the last Elspeth, and she doesn’t have the game ending Angel’s Blessing that the original version provided to aggressive decks. No, to me she seems like a more expensive, but more powerful Nissa Revane. Both provide three toughness worth of creatures, and both gain life. This doesn’t bode well for Elspeth, since Nissa saw almost no play except for a span of about two weeks, but I think Elspeth has her beat. Three 1/1’s are certainly more powerful than one 2/3, and her ultimate is eminently reachable if a token deck emerges. Remember, both Maelstrom Pulse and Earthquake are both rotating. It’s just a shame Ms. Tirel and Conquerors Pledge both have the same casting cost; they seem like perfect complement’s to one another.

VERDICT: slightly over-rated currently, but she will make her presence felt in standard.

Venser, the Sojourner 3UW
Planeswalker – Venser
+2: Exile target permanent you own. Return it to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
-1: Creatures are unblockable this turn.
-8: You get an emblem with “Whenever you cast a spell, exile target permanent.”
3

As soon as Venser was spoiled, he was preselling at $50. FIFTY BUCKS!!! Is that the price that all planeswalkers are going to be debuting at, regardless of how narrow their applications? I’m not sold on Venser’s playability; he can’t protect himself, his -1 ability is almost useless (how many non-wall (i.e. attacking) creatures does U/W play?) and his ultimate takes four turns to reach. Sure, blinking a Wall of Omens or Trinket Mage is cute, but it doesn’t offset the five mana cost or the fact that he offers no protection to himself whatsoever, other than what creatures you already have in play. Obviously will still have most of Scars to be spoiled, but as is, I don’t think Venser is all that impressive. And he’s DEFINITELY not worth paying $50 for.

VERDICT: Extremely overrated. There will probably be a deck that makes use of him, but more as a Gideon Jura-esque role player than a superstar like Big Jace or Elspeth #1

Koth of the Hammer 2RR
Planeswalker – Koth
+1: Untap target Mountian. It becomes a 4/4 red Elemental creature until end of turn. It’s still a land.
-2: Add {R} to your mana pool for each Mountain you control.
-5: You get an emblem with “Mountains you control have ‘{T}: This land deals 1 damage to target creature or player.’”
3

So far, our boy Koth of the Hammer seems to be everyone’s favorite Scars planeswalker. And why not? He has the four casting cost that all of the best PW’s (Jace,The Mind Sculptor, Elspeth, Knight Errant, Ajani Vengeant , Garruk Wildspeaker) also share. His +1 ability is powerful and has an immediate effect; his -2 ability can lead to some truly broken things happening; and his ultimate is game breaking. What’s not to love? Well, for starters, he fails the Protect Itself test that is so important for planeswalkers to pass. Yeah, he makes a 4/4, but that’s only until the end of the turn during your turn. Once it’s your opponent’s turn, Koth will need some blockers, and red isn’t really a color known for keeping its creatures untapped and back on defense. Sure, you could play him in a multi-colored deck, but that detracts from his -2 ability, which only benefits from Koth’s controller having mountains. Raging Ravines and Dragonskull Summits need not apply. So that leaves us with a medium loyalty planeswalker with no way to defend himself, sitting in a mono colored deck. In most situations this would be a recipe for unplayability. But Koth is an exception. Here’s why.

Mono red in the current standard is a deck is built around combustible elementals that die at the end of the turn. With the release of Scars, all of these creatures, Hells Thunder, Ball Lightning, Hellspark Elemental, rotate out, thus necessitating a large change to the RDW creature base. In particular, the red deck will now need to be using “real” creatures, i.e. creatures that present a consistent threat as opposed to ones that function only as burn spells on legs. Plated Geopede, Kargan Dragonlord, Obsidian Fireheart, possibly even Ember Hauler are all candidates to fill those rolls. What does that mean for Koth? It means that opposing players will have to make the difficult choice between killing Koth and keeping their life total at a safe number. I’ll let a sample deck list explain:

4 Goblin Guide
4 Plated Geopede
4 Kargan Dragonlord
2 Obsidian Fireheart

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Burst Lightning
2 Staggershock
1 Fireball
4 Koth of the Hammer

8 Red Fetch Lands (Arid Mesa, Scalding Tarn, etc…)
17 Mountain

A deck like this puts a TON of pressure on an opponent as early as turn one. The only reliable way to beat modern red decks is to weather the damage storm and try and stabilize once the red player is low on cards. Koth provides red decks a source of card advantage that they have lacked since the days of Cursed Scroll. Try finding the time to deal 4 damage to one planeswalker after being attacked by a Goblin Guide, 5/5 Geopede, and a 4/4 Mountain on turn four. But the thing is, is that you almost don’t have a choice. Koth’s ultimate basically ends the game on the spot, so he has to be dealt with. And THAT is exactly what makes him so good. He shifts the opponent’s focus from your Geopedes and Dragonlords onto himself, his mere presence in play breaking down opposing defenses and opening holes for your monsters to attack through.

This is the future of standard red. Be afraid.

VERDICT: Major player in the upcoming standard format. Koth might actually be more important to red decks than Jace 2.0 is to blue decks, which is a frightening thought.

Molten-Tail Masticore 4
Artifact Creature – Masticore
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Molten-Tail Masticore unless you discard a card.
4, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Molten-Tail Masticore deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
2: Regenerate Molten-Tail Masticore.
4/4

Ah yes, another Masticore. The third version Masticore is magic’s storied history is certainly better than the second (Razormane Masticore), and is a bit more specialized than the original. While certainly powerful, the prevailing question is how best to maximize his powerful ability while minimizing his rather significant drawback. My first thoughts were in a blue deck that could draw more than one card per turn so as to lessen the Masticore upkeep cost, but that type of deck run few creatures, so that idea was quickly abandoned. Draftmagic’s own John Allen suggested sliding it into a Fauna Shaman shell, complete with Squadron Hawks, Vengevines, and the like. This seems like the perfect place for it, since the Squadron Hawks provide both expendable cards and graveyard fodder for the Masticore’s ability. Decks like this are typically weak to Day of Judgment, but Masticore lives through a Day by virtue of his regeneration ability. Another previously missing element that Molten-Tail Masticore provides for the deck is reach, being able to take out creatures, players, and planeswalkers without using the combat step.

VERDICT: Currently being underrated; should be a fairly large player in the upcoming standard format.

Mox Opal 0
Legendary Artifact
Metalcraft – {T}: Add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control three or more artifacts.

I’m not excited by this card, and I don’t know of too many people who are. The legendary status is a significant drawback, and prevents any abuse of the mox whatsoever. Ideally you would play four of these in a deck (assuming a deck pops up that would make good use of the mox) so as to maximize your chances of drawing one in your opening hand. But any redundant copy you draw is going to be a dead card. A legendary mox isn’t like a legendary creature; no one is going to waste removal on it, allowing you an opportunity to play your back up copies. If you’re playing a deck with enough artifacts to reliably enable Metalcraft on turn two or three, your opponent isn’t going to blow his naturalize on a colorless Birds of Paradise. No, there’s an overwhelmingly large chance that the first Mox Opal you cast of the game will be your last.

That being said, free colorless mana exceleration is far too powerful of an effect to be ignored. There will probably be a niche for this card somewhere, although that deck certainly doesn’t exist yet. Perhaps once the rest of the set is spoiled there will be an obvious application, but don’t get too excited. They’re not going to bring back Seat of the Synod and friends, that’s for damn sure.

(As a side note, Mox Opal now becomes the second magic card, after Lotus Cobra, who’s printing as a mythic rare is based ENTIRELY on a word in the card’s name. If this was called Darksteel Opal, you can bet your ass that it would be a regular rare. And $20 cheaper.)

VERDICT: Might make a small splash in older formats, but Mox Opal’s standard applications are slim at the moment.

Sword of Body and Mind 3
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has protection from green and from blue.
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, you put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield and that player puts the top ten cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Equip 2

This card was released last month in From the Vault: Relics, and I’ve had a little bit of experience playing with it already. While the abilities are not as powerful as the two original swords, the thing that I’ve found most promising about SoBM is the protection from green. Green is a very popular and powerful color these days, and nothing, ever, has pro green. Not to mention that the sword is relatively inexpensive and to cast and to equip, and the +2/+2 is a nice boost to any creature. I think the protection, combined with the respectable ability to create 2/2 wolves is going to make SoBM the second most common equipment in standard, after Basilisk Collar. I don’t think SoBM is going to set the word aflame, and it certainly won’t see as much play as Sword of Fire and Ice did, but it makes a nice Stoneforge Mystic target and should get some love in upcoming constructed formats.

VERDICT: Creature based decks lost a decent amount of card advantage with the rotating of Bloodbraid Elf and Ranger of Eos. Sword of Body and Mind helps make up for some of that. Expect to see a copy of this powerful equipment floating around in several decks.

Geth, Lord of the Vault 4BB
Legendary Creature – Zombie
Intimidate
{X}{B}: Put target artifact or creature card with converted mana cost X from an opponent’s graveyard onto the battlefield under your control tapped. Then that player puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
5/5

Now THIS is what I want my mythics to be – stupid limited bombs with little to no constructed application. Just felt like mentioning that.

VERDICT: Bad in constructed, but you already knew that. Give him to a small child and make someone’s day.

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RARES

Sunblast Angel 4WW
Creature – Angel
Flying
When Sunblast Angel enters the battlefield, destroy all tapped creatures.
4/5

This is an interesting card. Remember Guan Yus 1000-Li March? Of course you do. This is just the 1,000-Li March on steroids. There are certainly some applications for this card, although only under the right circumstances. Myr have returned in this set, and if a deck comes together that play multiple myr for acellerants, then Sunblast Angel could be a good solution to taking them all out, as well as any creature your opponent was foolish enough to have attacked with. Even if the angel just comes down and takes out a lone Baneslayer Angel or Vengevine, it’s still a good deal. A 4/5 flyer isn’t anything special these days, but it will kill you if left unchecked. Watch this card.

VERDICT: This angel will show up somewhere, whether it’s in maindecks or sideboards. Be aware of its existence.

Contagion Engine 6
Artifact
When Contagion Engine enters the battlefield, put a -1/-1 counter on each creature target player controls
4, T: Proliferate, then proliferate again.

A card like this can go two ways – either it’s too slow for the current environment and is unplayable; or it comes down fast enough where can destroy an opposing deck and provide too much card advantage for an opponent to handle. If Eldrazi Monument token decks become popular again, Contagion Engine’s -1/-1 counter effect can go a long way towards shutting them down. And let’s not forget about the interaction with proliferate times two and planeswalkers. Now you can build towards Jace’s ultimate and Brainstorm and put two -1/-1 counters on your opponent’s guys, all in the same turn! If poison becomes a viable deck, giving your opponent just one poison counter with a Contagion Engine in play creates fairly a short clock, even without additional infect effects. The only question is whether the initial burst of -1/-1 counters is enough to justify the high casting cost and the relatively expensive proliferate activation cost. Time will tell.

VERDICT: This thing could be a beating in the right metagame. If the format is slow enough, Contagion Engine will be a player for sure.

Grand Architect 1UU
Creature – Vedalken Artificer
Other blue creatures you control get +1/+1.
{U}: Target artifact creature becomes blue until end of turn.
Tap an untapped blue creature you control: Add 2 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts.
1/3

I’m not sure why, but this guy scares the shit out of me. I can’t see any application for him yet, but any creature that can do this many things is just begging to be abused. The most interesting ability by far is the mana ability. I’m not sure there will be enough blue creatures to make it work, but I do know that a turn one blue guy, turn two blue guy, turn three Architect equals a turn three Contagion Engine, or Mindslaver, or Wurmcoil Engine. While this scenario might seem pretty farfetched, keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be any specific creature, so long as they are blue. Even late in the game Architect is still pretty sweet, allowing for a Contagion Engine plus activation on the same turn, or some similar expensive broken-ness. I don’t have a deck for this guy, but someone will.
(And yes, he can be used as another Merfolk lord in a pinch, as though that tribe needed any more lords.)

VERDICT: Too breakable to be ignored.

True Conviction 3WWW
Enchantment
Creatures you control have doublestrike and lifelink.

This is clearly a limited bomb, but is too expensive for constructed play. The reason I’m mentioning True Conviction is because I can see myself getting stomped by this card at some point in the future. Someone’s going to play it against me at a PTQ, and I’m going to say to myself, “Ha! That card is bad”. Then I am going to die to it. Mark my words.

VERDICT: Not very good, but someone, somewhere is planning to kill you with it.

Ezuri’s Brigade 2GG
Creature – Elf Warrior
Metalcraft – As long as you control three or more artifacts, Ezuri’s Brigade gets +4/+4 and has trample.
4/4

Ok, this thing is kind of ridiculous. Power creep much? If any green deck with artifacts becomes viable, this is a straight up 8/8 trample for four mana. Put him in a G/U deck with Trinket Mage’s and enough artifacts to ensure that he’s always huge, than cast him on turn 6 with Deprive or Mana Leak backup (or Stoic Rebuttal; scroll down a little bit if you don’t know what that is). Paging Doctor B. Tings.

VERDICT: If ANY viable green metalcraft deck shows up, this guy will be in it.

UNCOMMONS

Thrummingbird 1U
Creature – Bird Horror
Flying
Whenever Thrummingbird deals combat damage to a player, proliferate.
1/1

I love this card. Out of all the uncommons spoiled so far, Thrummingbird is easily the most powerful. Think about what a single hit with this guy can do – your planeswalkers all get another counter; your opponents gets another poison counter; any creatures with -1/-1 counters get another one; add another counter to your Luminarch Ascension, etc. Hell, you can even put a counter on any level-up creatures you might be playing with*. In the correct deck, Thrummingbird functions almost like a Thieving Magpie, except for half the cost. This will be one of the best uncommons in the set, and will definitely see constructed play.

As good as Thrummingbird is in constructed, it might be even better in limited. Scars has a -1/-1 and a poison counter theme. Being able to pile onto those numbers is huge, and a few well placed Thrummingbird hits could easily be game-changing. Certainly a high pick.

*I’m aware that there are no good level up creatures for constructed, but it’s a brand new format. I’ve always wanted to see Enclave Cryptologist played competitively. Dare to dream!

VERDICT: Power uncommon, must kill creature, and planeswalkers’ new best friend.

Trinket Mage 2U
Creature – Human Wizard
When Trinket Mage enters the battlefield, you may search your library for an artifact card with converted mana cost 1 or less, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.
2/2

He’s baaaaack. No explanation needed; Trinket Mage is just good at what he does. Enjoy fetching your Brittle Effigys and enabling metalcraft.

VERDICT: Um, it’s Trinket Mage. He good.

Rusted Relic 4
Artifact
Metalcraft – Rusted Relic is a 5/5Golem artifact creature as long as you control three or more artifacts.

Too conditional for constructed, but should be a high pick in Scars limited. This is an artifact set, after all. Having two other artifacts in play by turn 4 should be a breeze. Essentially this is a four mana 5/5 artifact creature 90% of the time. That is powerful enough to make up for the 10% of the time that it’s nothing. (Obviously I made up those numbers, but you get the point).

VERDICT: Very flexible limited card, and certainly a high draft pick. This also might be the card that finally pushes Juggernaut completely out of vintage MUD lists.*

*This sentence was relevant to approximately zero of our readers.

Commons

Stoic Rebuttal 1UU
Instant
Metalcraft – Stoic rebuttal costs 1 less to cast if you control three or more artifacts.
Counter target spell.

The only common I want to talk about today is Stoic Rebuttal. That is because, in a metalcraft deck, this is Counterspell. That’s right; if you have a small amount of artifacts in play, this card is functionally identical to what is arguably the third most powerful counter ever printed. In limited, Stoic Rebuttal is at worst a Cancel, and should usually be able to be cast for just two mana. We certainly have come a long way since Assert Authority.

VERDICT: Good. Maybe too good.

That’s it for my abbreviated set review. Even though this is mostly a limited website, I hope you enjoyed reading about the constructed playability of some of the interesting new cards that Scars of Mirrodin will provide for us. Once the full set is spoiled, I’ll have my usual limited set review of the commons and uncommons. Until then, thanks for reading.

-Marlon Egolf