So I went to the prerelease in Atlanta; a bit slow in getting flights organized, but they always run very smoothly and quickly once they're underway. I can only play one flight.
I cracked my CoK t-pack first; it determines what colors I may get to play. I get a ton of playable commons/uncommons in every color except blue; white's got Kabuto Moth, Mothrider Samurai, Ethereal Haze, Lantern Kami, and the ever-popular Cage of Hands. I'm surprised I don't find Nagao, Blademaster, and Hatamoto as well. I also snag a Myojin of Cleansing Fire, which I'm not exactly thrilled about (8-drops still bug me after Mirrodin block sealed), but which is quite good in the slower sealed deck format. Sealed deck tends to be more about the late game than draft. Oh, and Honden of Cleansing Fire is pretty good too. Think I'll probably play that :).
My other rares are Gifts Ungiven, which is quite poor in sealed (sucks two of your best cards right into the yard); and Part the Veil, which is quite poor in all formats. It occurs to me for a moment that Part the Veil combos with Myojin of White, protecting my creatures, and would increase my hand size, which works well with Saviors. The fact that I'm thinking about Part the Veil tech means I'm probably not in the right frame of mind.
Fortunately, I don't really have to be. CoK Red supplies a Glacial Ray, a Pain Kami, a Soul of Magma (which I like running primarily against blue in CCB draft; a quick glance at my spoiler revealed a pretty high number of 1-toughness creatures in SoK, especially in white, so I ran it), a Lava Spike (which I'll run with Glacial Ray), and a Brutal Deceiver (which is a good last creature--I love first strike in limited).
Green's got Order of the Sacred Bell and Burr Grafter, but almost no depth. It strikes me that I was really pumped when I opened a Kami of the Hunt in the CoK prerelease. It strikes me that I suck at evaluating cards.
Black's got Scuttling Death, Gibbering Kami, and the Gutwrencher Oni/Blood Speaker combo. Good creatures, but the only removal I find is a Pull Under. I don't really like 6-drop removal, so I decide that I'll maybe splash black if I find some good stuff in the Saviors packs.
The Saviors packs, which I open all at once, do not disappoint. My rares are unspectacular. Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant might be playable if I had 3 Honden, or a Pious Kitsune combo with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. Though I'm still not sure it would.
I open a Kiyomaro to go with my prerelease foil, though he's not particularly exciting because my deck is looking pretty aggressive--not the sort of deck that wants to save cards in hand. Still, the theoretical long-game of Glacial Ray splicing along with the Honden, Haze, and Cage make him a solid option in the right situation. I opt to run him just because a probable 4/4 for 5 is always playable in limited. And he gets Vigilance.
I also crack a Kaho, Minamo Historian, which is terrible in limited and probably in constructed too. A dealer at the prerelease is inexplicably buying them for $2.50, more than he's paying for Pithing Needle. I sell it to him before my first round gets underway.
The uncommons are a ton better. The highlight is a Razorjaw Oni. Remember, I was planning on splashing black if possible. Razorface is the perfect splash-black card because it hoses your opponent's black creatures! In an aggressive deck, dropping this guy against a mostly-black opponent is a good way to deliver a massive bashing, especially if they're relying on black for flying blockers like Gibbering Kami. I imagine this aspect of Razorface will show itself in draft even more prominently.
I find Hand of Honor, which I happily toss in the pile; I also find Hand of Cruelty, which is arguably even better but which I can't play in my deck because of black mana problems. I crack two copies of Soratami Cloud Chariot, which makes me a bit sad. I'd been excited about the defensive and offensive abilities of this artifact since I saw it on the spoiler. But you can't run multiple copies of 5-drop non-threats in limited, especially if having both in play would be useless. The Chariot proves to be exceptionally versatile, playing offense and defense well and freeing up my board.
Eight mana lets you hold off anything as long as you've got the creatures to block. And it lets you take to the skies for the finish. I think the Chariot's first-pickable in many cases, especially if your draft deck has something like Masako the Humorless which effectively allows you to swing with as much stuff as you have mana to protect. It also synergizes very well with green decks, to the point that they become ridiculous in the midgame with flying Gnarled Masses that take no damage.
In the commons I find Kagemaro's Clutch, which I love in virtually every situation. It's black removal with no targeting restrictions, and it's very reasonably costed at 3B. It's in. The deck really gets rolling when the white and red show me even more savage beats. I find Spiraling Embers, which is extremely good and even game-winning in red/blue with Soratami but playable in pretty much anything; the fact it's arcane is a huge bonus. I also catch Path of Anger's Flame, which I didn't even pay a thought to on the spoiler list but which is extremely excellent in any red deck with creatures. It's even better with white, as it often adds 4 to the dome on turn 3 (more as the game goes on) or doubles as a board-clearing agent. It's arcane too, not that it really needs it. I don't run the halfway-decent Ronin Cavekeeper because I don't really want six-drops. I have less justification for not running Sokenzan Spellblade; he's not really as good as some people will say, because he'll die to double-blocks or single-blocks against many creatures on the board though in retrospect I probably should have put him in as a possible finisher (especially considering the Cloud Chariot I had). He can deal almost unlimited damage the turn after he's summoned.
My already mostly-white deck found a lot of help in the commons as well. Spiritual Visit has a ton of synergy with any splicing strategy, as it provides a stream of blockers and then provides one more delivery of whatever your big splicer is. At worst, it's a 1/1 at instant speed, which is not too bad if you can use it to off something pesky like a bouncy Glitterfang. Araba Mothrider is just good; it trades with every blue creature, and just about everything else, and provides some solid damage in the air. I would prefer the 2/1 Moonwing Moth, but I don't get one. Kitsune Loreweaver will probably always be underrated. You can use its ability as many times as you want, so it's often a 2/7 or better if you've got any mana to spare (which is often true for white). It's also a 2/1 for 2 at worst, which is still fine in this block.
In the end, I go 3-0 in my flight and have a jolly good time, though I don't get to play against black and use the Razorjaw trick. I don't even get to shoot a bunch of Moonfolk with Soul of Magma. I just play combinations of my own colors. White-Black, then White-Red, then White-Red. They all run just two colors, which is almost never quite optimal in Kamigawa block sealed, at least of the non-team variety. There's some beautiful splashable stuff out there; go get it. I win my first match during Turn 4 of Extra Turn play, doing 13 damage with 2 Glacial Ray uses and Path of Anger's Flame. The other two matches are less interesting, as I pretty much beat face against a land-flooded opponent and a close friend of mine who has the same deck as I do minus black; he's got Reciprocate, a ton of Sweep cards (2 Barrels, 1 Plow, 1 Charge), and some more hand-size stuff, but it's basically Cage of Hands versus Cage of Hands. He's even got White Honden. But I draw more fliers and make fewer mistakes this time. White-red aggro just got a lot better. Seriously.
My top ten, if anyone cares, runs as follows. I'm a Spikish type who evaluates cards primarily on the basis of constructed playability, though I play so much limited that sometimes I gain an unintentional bias toward evasion creatures and board-clearing. I'm thinking in terms of standard and block primarily.
1. Pithing Needle
Plenty has been said about this card on the forum. It's pretty amazing. My friend cracked a foil in his prerelease build, and got another in his prize packs. He didn't run the foil for fear of ruining it. But it's not nearly as good in limited as it is in constructed, where every deck seems to have a use for it. This card really hates Vedalken Shackles, and it's a weirdly unbalancing "pre-sideboard" sort of card that lets you drop it on turn 1, game 1 if you've scouted your opponent's deck. I'm not sure I love that fact, but this thing is scary. SCARY.
2. Twincast
SPOON! Fork=good. Blue likes to have mana untapped even more than red, and will be able to use this more often. Ergo, Spoon (Twincast) is good. Possible badass moves:
Respond to Tooth with Tooth for Sakashima, copy Colossus. Also play Hoverguard Sweepers. Swing for 15.
Cranial Extraction. Duh.
Kodama's Reach in block, to stay well ahead of the curve.
Use as anti-Counter tech by copying the original spell you cast.
Fact or Fiction. A million spells in extended. Tinker in type 1. Good.
3. Ideas Unbound/Murmurs From Beyond
I don't have a pro-Blue bias, but these cards made me happy to see. Cheap blue card drawing with utility is a necessary fact (or fiction). Ideas Unbound is very good, but you can't always play it early. Still, the ability to toss out unneeded islands or extra win condition copies or surplus anything to dig makes it strong. It's particularly good in U/G Madness in extended, even as a turn 2 play in the right hand with Rootwallas or Deep Analysis or anything you want. Solid and interesting.
Murmurs is probably less good, but it's instant-speed, and one cheaper than the generally not playable Inspiration. Fixed Fact or Fiction it ain't, but it'll likely see some play somewhere.
4. Thoughts of Ruin
This puts to bed almost all dreams of a 9th-ed reprint for Armageddon. But it's not worse than Armageddon as a turn 4 play usually. This synergizes very well with Barrel Down Sokenzan, which should be playable in block, as it grows your hand and offs a Samurai, then lets you replay the mountains. Thoughts also seems playable in type 2, as blue no longer can always afford to tap out for turn 3 Shackles, usually a strong play against red decks with Slith and Slogger. This synergizes with Solemn, and can occasionally leave you on one or two land and your opponent on zero. Slows Tooth nicely as well. Maybe this should be higher on my list...
5. Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
This card is thoroughly unspectacular but strictly better than Island except that it doesn't pump Shackles. It's pretty good against Thoughts of Ruin, and any land destruction, and it can pump your hand size or get discarded to a late Ideas Unbound. It's a nice little land with a nice little ability that won't win you the game, but it's one of these marginal improvements over basic land that tourney players eat up.
6. Arashi, the Sky Asunder
(Who Hates Meloku, But Thinks Kokusho Can Stay Alive)
Hurricane was an important staple of Green's arsenal back in the day, though the fact that it damaged players made it unfair. An XG sorcery that just damaged flying creatures was too narrow to make an impact. So they put it on a 5/5 for 5, which would retain a strong activated ability. How nice of them.
7. Rending Vines
When used against cheap stuff, which most good artifacts and enchantments of the present day are, this is Naturalize, Draw. That's pretty good. I may be rating this too highly, but I like efficient cards.
8. Spiraling Embers
The decks at the Kamigawa-block Pro Tour were heavy on the cards in hand. This set makes that even more possible, and this sorcery coupled with Meloku or Blue Myojin (cough) or some other massive hand pumping can Kill Target Player. It doubles as removal for some of the peskier big stuff, as well. And it's Arcane. Who knew Storm Seeker could be so good? This is, by the way, AMAZING in the right limited deck.
9. Kagemaro, First to Suffer
It's not usually a small creature, but this guy's real purpose is to Mutilate. He's nowhere near as good as Mutilate, or he'd be much higher on the list. But Kagemaro is a relatively efficient means for black to reset the board without losing life (like Death Cloud) or paying a bajillion mana. The fact that he doubles as a pretty large threat until you need to pop him is quite a bonus. I think they should reprint Necropotence. And Yawgmoth's Bargain. Both of those cards were fair.
10. Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
This is splashy. Symmetric effects are interesting, and nowhere more interesting than on land. I like this; it's extremely fun in group game environments, with Multani in play, and seems quite playable in standard, especially at end of main phase against a full-handed opponent. At the very least, it taps for 1. At most, it lets you recover against a more conservative opponent and draw into the game-winning burn spell or Witness.
What this does with the currently hard-to-do Fastbond combos is simply insane. Pay 1 life, gain 1 life means I can go off with Fastbond without worrying about life.
Tallowisp notably can pick up Cage of Hands and Mystic Restraints, as well as Indomitable Will, which makes him a very solid guy with cheap booty (1/3 for 2 is a fine little guy in this block with all the 2/1s) that fits very, very well into Limited. He powers Spiritcraft too, and generally makes a slowish white Limited deck quite happy.
It's weird, because if stuff from 8th like Spirit Link and Pacifism were available for block constructed, Tallowisp might actually be a possible utility for White/whatever color Spiritcraft decks. Those cards aren't here though (no Spirit Link in Spirit block is somewhat weird, though not considering the flavor of the Kami), and with a lack of good "beatdown" enchantments Tallowisp is left hanging.
Not likely to make the cut in any constructed format, but an interesting and fun card to play around with in more wide-open casual formats. Rancor is happy, as are Control Magic, Armadillo Cloak, Spirit Link, Curiosity, and a lot of other cards that see play in casual/group.
EDIT: If there were a Hermetic Study enchantment in this block (Yamabushi's Gift or something...could happen) this guy might be nuts in the right Limited situation.
Is that me or wizards guy are trying to fit good old effects on any kind of creature (see Dusk Drinker for example) ? Maybe we will see more of this kind of creature (1 per color ?)
Wizards is definitely in a trend of printing creatures with highly powerful "spell-like" abilities. A lot of them are playable (or likely to be) in constructed.
Leonin Abunas
Platinum Angel
Mephidross Vampire
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror-Breaker
Sakura-Tribe Elder (not "highly powerful" so much as highly efficient)
Disciple of the @$#! Vault (this should be an enchantment that costs like 4)
Kodama of the South Tree
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
Rootrunner
Only two of these cards are particularly fragile: Kiki-Jiki is a very important card anyway because he is amazingly powerful and doesn't need to sit on the board for a turn before he does something. Ditto Disciple of the Vault. Sakura-Tribe Elder doesn't get hit with removal; if he did, he'd still Rampant Growth anyway.
The Abunas saw play in a surprisingly large variety of Block decks, many rogue, just because of his exceptionally high toughness.
Toshi is wimpy, indeed. But I don't think it's fair to classify a card as no good just because it's fragile. If someone 1-for-1s it with a removal spell, it's not like you've lost the game. Still, Toshi is a rare sort; a 3-drop that doesn't like to hit the board on turn 3. His chance of using his ability is much higher at some later point. I'm honestly not sure he'll see play due to this "drawback." He's strong against Ravager if he's in there when you untap, but on turn 3 one might hope for a better drop that can stop more damage from hitting your face. Chittering Rats, for example, give 2-for-1 as soon as they come into play; they block and die, you've still gained something. And they're solid against control decks. Toshi has issues against control decks.
Wow this is good! In cloud this could be really good. Definity it will have a splash on BLock and problay T2 also but my question to you all is will it be good in Extended?
One obvious candidate for synergy purposes is Desire, but Desire likes to goldfish when it goes off, not worry about the opponent having dudes in play.
For color purposes, Toshi seems to fit best into Rock, where he might be an extremely good sideboard option against Affinity, Goblins, and Madness; he turns whatever solid removal (Rend Flesh, Diabolic Edict, Oxidize, etc.) into 2-fers, which is extremely useful some of the time, but not currently against enough decks to really be mainboard. Still an interesting potential Living Wish target, if you're running removal or they kill off their own guys (Fanatic, Frostling?, all affinity stuff). I'd say there's only about a 33% chance Toshi will really find a home in extended.
More likely he will fit into Standard, where black will gain yet another card to let them 2-for-1 a lot. Chittering Rats, Ravenous Rats (playable maybe?), Lose Hope (scry 2 is kinda like draw 1), Solemn, Echoing Decay...lots of potential card advantage for black. I especially like Toshi's potential in rock-ish Type II decks with or without Death Cloud. If you're running some Oxidize, Tel-Jilad Justice, Naturalize, Lose Hope, Echoing Decay, Rend Flesh...having all these have 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 flashback potential is just amazing.
Toshi is nifty. Kinda like Glissa. He's tournament-level-ish and has an ability that is unique to himself.
Oak-Bark, Chosen Squirrel 2G
Legendary Creature-Squirrel
Indestructible
1/1 "We drove our axes into it a thousand times, impaled it with every arrow we had, threw rocks, and even set it on fire at LEAST twice. After all that, it just looked at us and cocked its head, amused at our efforts. I need a drink..."
~~ "There's your man. No, not that one. Not that one, either. Wait, yes, it was that one. Oh, what's the difference anyway?"
Red -
Frost? Fire? Flame? Blazing? Angry?: Eyes
Green - Jade? Moss? Snake?: Eyes
Blue - Empty? Floating? Vacant? Moonlit? Twinkling... um. These don't make sense.
Snake Eyes, Servant of Joe 3G
Legendary Creature-Soldier Ninja
Ninjutsu 3G
First Strike
Whenever Snake Eyes deals damage to a player, you may say "Knowing is Half the Battle." If you do, save target kids from certain peril. A Real American Hero. "Why the hell am I green?" -Snake Eyes, Servant of Joe
4/4
I'm Steve, a longtime lurker over at [censored] who decided to come over here after [censored] split for what seem to me to be [censored] reasons. I'm from Atlanta, [censored], where I play not as often as I'd like--I honestly feel like I have about as much fun making predictions about future sets as I have playing the game of [censored]. Anywho, [censored] you folks on the [censored]!
I cracked my CoK t-pack first; it determines what colors I may get to play. I get a ton of playable commons/uncommons in every color except blue; white's got Kabuto Moth, Mothrider Samurai, Ethereal Haze, Lantern Kami, and the ever-popular Cage of Hands. I'm surprised I don't find Nagao, Blademaster, and Hatamoto as well. I also snag a Myojin of Cleansing Fire, which I'm not exactly thrilled about (8-drops still bug me after Mirrodin block sealed), but which is quite good in the slower sealed deck format. Sealed deck tends to be more about the late game than draft. Oh, and Honden of Cleansing Fire is pretty good too. Think I'll probably play that :).
My other rares are Gifts Ungiven, which is quite poor in sealed (sucks two of your best cards right into the yard); and Part the Veil, which is quite poor in all formats. It occurs to me for a moment that Part the Veil combos with Myojin of White, protecting my creatures, and would increase my hand size, which works well with Saviors. The fact that I'm thinking about Part the Veil tech means I'm probably not in the right frame of mind.
Fortunately, I don't really have to be. CoK Red supplies a Glacial Ray, a Pain Kami, a Soul of Magma (which I like running primarily against blue in CCB draft; a quick glance at my spoiler revealed a pretty high number of 1-toughness creatures in SoK, especially in white, so I ran it), a Lava Spike (which I'll run with Glacial Ray), and a Brutal Deceiver (which is a good last creature--I love first strike in limited).
Green's got Order of the Sacred Bell and Burr Grafter, but almost no depth. It strikes me that I was really pumped when I opened a Kami of the Hunt in the CoK prerelease. It strikes me that I suck at evaluating cards.
Black's got Scuttling Death, Gibbering Kami, and the Gutwrencher Oni/Blood Speaker combo. Good creatures, but the only removal I find is a Pull Under. I don't really like 6-drop removal, so I decide that I'll maybe splash black if I find some good stuff in the Saviors packs.
The Saviors packs, which I open all at once, do not disappoint. My rares are unspectacular.
Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant might be playable if I had 3 Honden, or a Pious Kitsune combo with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. Though I'm still not sure it would.
I open a Kiyomaro to go with my prerelease foil, though he's not particularly exciting because my deck is looking pretty aggressive--not the sort of deck that wants to save cards in hand. Still, the theoretical long-game of Glacial Ray splicing along with the Honden, Haze, and Cage make him a solid option in the right situation. I opt to run him just because a probable 4/4 for 5 is always playable in limited. And he gets Vigilance.
I also crack a Kaho, Minamo Historian, which is terrible in limited and probably in constructed too. A dealer at the prerelease is inexplicably buying them for $2.50, more than he's paying for Pithing Needle. I sell it to him before my first round gets underway.
The uncommons are a ton better. The highlight is a Razorjaw Oni. Remember, I was planning on splashing black if possible. Razorface is the perfect splash-black card because it hoses your opponent's black creatures! In an aggressive deck, dropping this guy against a mostly-black opponent is a good way to deliver a massive bashing, especially if they're relying on black for flying blockers like Gibbering Kami. I imagine this aspect of Razorface will show itself in draft even more prominently.
I find Hand of Honor, which I happily toss in the pile; I also find Hand of Cruelty, which is arguably even better but which I can't play in my deck because of black mana problems. I crack two copies of Soratami Cloud Chariot, which makes me a bit sad. I'd been excited about the defensive and offensive abilities of this artifact since I saw it on the spoiler. But you can't run multiple copies of 5-drop non-threats in limited, especially if having both in play would be useless. The Chariot proves to be exceptionally versatile, playing offense and defense well and freeing up my board.
Eight mana lets you hold off anything as long as you've got the creatures to block. And it lets you take to the skies for the finish. I think the Chariot's first-pickable in many cases, especially if your draft deck has something like Masako the Humorless which effectively allows you to swing with as much stuff as you have mana to protect. It also synergizes very well with green decks, to the point that they become ridiculous in the midgame with flying Gnarled Masses that take no damage.
In the commons I find Kagemaro's Clutch, which I love in virtually every situation. It's black removal with no targeting restrictions, and it's very reasonably costed at 3B. It's in. The deck really gets rolling when the white and red show me even more savage beats. I find Spiraling Embers, which is extremely good and even game-winning in red/blue with Soratami but playable in pretty much anything; the fact it's arcane is a huge bonus. I also catch Path of Anger's Flame, which I didn't even pay a thought to on the spoiler list but which is extremely excellent in any red deck with creatures. It's even better with white, as it often adds 4 to the dome on turn 3 (more as the game goes on) or doubles as a board-clearing agent. It's arcane too, not that it really needs it. I don't run the halfway-decent Ronin Cavekeeper because I don't really want six-drops. I have less justification for not running Sokenzan Spellblade; he's not really as good as some people will say, because he'll die to double-blocks or single-blocks against many creatures on the board though in retrospect I probably should have put him in as a possible finisher (especially considering the Cloud Chariot I had). He can deal almost unlimited damage the turn after he's summoned.
My already mostly-white deck found a lot of help in the commons as well. Spiritual Visit has a ton of synergy with any splicing strategy, as it provides a stream of blockers and then provides one more delivery of whatever your big splicer is. At worst, it's a 1/1 at instant speed, which is not too bad if you can use it to off something pesky like a bouncy Glitterfang. Araba Mothrider is just good; it trades with every blue creature, and just about everything else, and provides some solid damage in the air. I would prefer the 2/1 Moonwing Moth, but I don't get one. Kitsune Loreweaver will probably always be underrated. You can use its ability as many times as you want, so it's often a 2/7 or better if you've got any mana to spare (which is often true for white). It's also a 2/1 for 2 at worst, which is still fine in this block.
In the end, I go 3-0 in my flight and have a jolly good time, though I don't get to play against black and use the Razorjaw trick. I don't even get to shoot a bunch of Moonfolk with Soul of Magma. I just play combinations of my own colors. White-Black, then White-Red, then White-Red. They all run just two colors, which is almost never quite optimal in Kamigawa block sealed, at least of the non-team variety. There's some beautiful splashable stuff out there; go get it. I win my first match during Turn 4 of Extra Turn play, doing 13 damage with 2 Glacial Ray uses and Path of Anger's Flame. The other two matches are less interesting, as I pretty much beat face against a land-flooded opponent and a close friend of mine who has the same deck as I do minus black; he's got Reciprocate, a ton of Sweep cards (2 Barrels, 1 Plow, 1 Charge), and some more hand-size stuff, but it's basically Cage of Hands versus Cage of Hands. He's even got White Honden. But I draw more fliers and make fewer mistakes this time. White-red aggro just got a lot better. Seriously.
1. Pithing Needle
Plenty has been said about this card on the forum. It's pretty amazing. My friend cracked a foil in his prerelease build, and got another in his prize packs. He didn't run the foil for fear of ruining it. But it's not nearly as good in limited as it is in constructed, where every deck seems to have a use for it. This card really hates Vedalken Shackles, and it's a weirdly unbalancing "pre-sideboard" sort of card that lets you drop it on turn 1, game 1 if you've scouted your opponent's deck. I'm not sure I love that fact, but this thing is scary. SCARY.
2. Twincast
SPOON! Fork=good. Blue likes to have mana untapped even more than red, and will be able to use this more often. Ergo, Spoon (Twincast) is good. Possible badass moves:
Respond to Tooth with Tooth for Sakashima, copy Colossus. Also play Hoverguard Sweepers. Swing for 15.
Cranial Extraction. Duh.
Kodama's Reach in block, to stay well ahead of the curve.
Use as anti-Counter tech by copying the original spell you cast.
Fact or Fiction. A million spells in extended. Tinker in type 1. Good.
3. Ideas Unbound/Murmurs From Beyond
I don't have a pro-Blue bias, but these cards made me happy to see. Cheap blue card drawing with utility is a necessary fact (or fiction). Ideas Unbound is very good, but you can't always play it early. Still, the ability to toss out unneeded islands or extra win condition copies or surplus anything to dig makes it strong. It's particularly good in U/G Madness in extended, even as a turn 2 play in the right hand with Rootwallas or Deep Analysis or anything you want. Solid and interesting.
Murmurs is probably less good, but it's instant-speed, and one cheaper than the generally not playable Inspiration. Fixed Fact or Fiction it ain't, but it'll likely see some play somewhere.
4. Thoughts of Ruin
This puts to bed almost all dreams of a 9th-ed reprint for Armageddon. But it's not worse than Armageddon as a turn 4 play usually. This synergizes very well with Barrel Down Sokenzan, which should be playable in block, as it grows your hand and offs a Samurai, then lets you replay the mountains. Thoughts also seems playable in type 2, as blue no longer can always afford to tap out for turn 3 Shackles, usually a strong play against red decks with Slith and Slogger. This synergizes with Solemn, and can occasionally leave you on one or two land and your opponent on zero. Slows Tooth nicely as well. Maybe this should be higher on my list...
5. Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
This card is thoroughly unspectacular but strictly better than Island except that it doesn't pump Shackles. It's pretty good against Thoughts of Ruin, and any land destruction, and it can pump your hand size or get discarded to a late Ideas Unbound. It's a nice little land with a nice little ability that won't win you the game, but it's one of these marginal improvements over basic land that tourney players eat up.
6. Arashi, the Sky Asunder
(Who Hates Meloku, But Thinks Kokusho Can Stay Alive)
Hurricane was an important staple of Green's arsenal back in the day, though the fact that it damaged players made it unfair. An XG sorcery that just damaged flying creatures was too narrow to make an impact. So they put it on a 5/5 for 5, which would retain a strong activated ability. How nice of them.
7. Rending Vines
When used against cheap stuff, which most good artifacts and enchantments of the present day are, this is Naturalize, Draw. That's pretty good. I may be rating this too highly, but I like efficient cards.
8. Spiraling Embers
The decks at the Kamigawa-block Pro Tour were heavy on the cards in hand. This set makes that even more possible, and this sorcery coupled with Meloku or Blue Myojin (cough) or some other massive hand pumping can Kill Target Player. It doubles as removal for some of the peskier big stuff, as well. And it's Arcane. Who knew Storm Seeker could be so good? This is, by the way, AMAZING in the right limited deck.
9. Kagemaro, First to Suffer
It's not usually a small creature, but this guy's real purpose is to Mutilate. He's nowhere near as good as Mutilate, or he'd be much higher on the list. But Kagemaro is a relatively efficient means for black to reset the board without losing life (like Death Cloud) or paying a bajillion mana. The fact that he doubles as a pretty large threat until you need to pop him is quite a bonus. I think they should reprint Necropotence. And Yawgmoth's Bargain. Both of those cards were fair.
10. Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
This is splashy. Symmetric effects are interesting, and nowhere more interesting than on land. I like this; it's extremely fun in group game environments, with Multani in play, and seems quite playable in standard, especially at end of main phase against a full-handed opponent. At the very least, it taps for 1. At most, it lets you recover against a more conservative opponent and draw into the game-winning burn spell or Witness.
It's weird, because if stuff from 8th like Spirit Link and Pacifism were available for block constructed, Tallowisp might actually be a possible utility for White/whatever color Spiritcraft decks. Those cards aren't here though (no Spirit Link in Spirit block is somewhat weird, though not considering the flavor of the Kami), and with a lack of good "beatdown" enchantments Tallowisp is left hanging.
Not likely to make the cut in any constructed format, but an interesting and fun card to play around with in more wide-open casual formats. Rancor is happy, as are Control Magic, Armadillo Cloak, Spirit Link, Curiosity, and a lot of other cards that see play in casual/group.
EDIT: If there were a Hermetic Study enchantment in this block (Yamabushi's Gift or something...could happen) this guy might be nuts in the right Limited situation.
Wizards is definitely in a trend of printing creatures with highly powerful "spell-like" abilities. A lot of them are playable (or likely to be) in constructed.
Leonin Abunas
Platinum Angel
Mephidross Vampire
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror-Breaker
Sakura-Tribe Elder (not "highly powerful" so much as highly efficient)
Disciple of the @$#! Vault (this should be an enchantment that costs like 4)
Kodama of the South Tree
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
Rootrunner
Only two of these cards are particularly fragile: Kiki-Jiki is a very important card anyway because he is amazingly powerful and doesn't need to sit on the board for a turn before he does something. Ditto Disciple of the Vault. Sakura-Tribe Elder doesn't get hit with removal; if he did, he'd still Rampant Growth anyway.
The Abunas saw play in a surprisingly large variety of Block decks, many rogue, just because of his exceptionally high toughness.
Toshi is wimpy, indeed. But I don't think it's fair to classify a card as no good just because it's fragile. If someone 1-for-1s it with a removal spell, it's not like you've lost the game. Still, Toshi is a rare sort; a 3-drop that doesn't like to hit the board on turn 3. His chance of using his ability is much higher at some later point. I'm honestly not sure he'll see play due to this "drawback." He's strong against Ravager if he's in there when you untap, but on turn 3 one might hope for a better drop that can stop more damage from hitting your face. Chittering Rats, for example, give 2-for-1 as soon as they come into play; they block and die, you've still gained something. And they're solid against control decks. Toshi has issues against control decks.
One obvious candidate for synergy purposes is Desire, but Desire likes to goldfish when it goes off, not worry about the opponent having dudes in play.
For color purposes, Toshi seems to fit best into Rock, where he might be an extremely good sideboard option against Affinity, Goblins, and Madness; he turns whatever solid removal (Rend Flesh, Diabolic Edict, Oxidize, etc.) into 2-fers, which is extremely useful some of the time, but not currently against enough decks to really be mainboard. Still an interesting potential Living Wish target, if you're running removal or they kill off their own guys (Fanatic, Frostling?, all affinity stuff). I'd say there's only about a 33% chance Toshi will really find a home in extended.
More likely he will fit into Standard, where black will gain yet another card to let them 2-for-1 a lot. Chittering Rats, Ravenous Rats (playable maybe?), Lose Hope (scry 2 is kinda like draw 1), Solemn, Echoing Decay...lots of potential card advantage for black. I especially like Toshi's potential in rock-ish Type II decks with or without Death Cloud. If you're running some Oxidize, Tel-Jilad Justice, Naturalize, Lose Hope, Echoing Decay, Rend Flesh...having all these have 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 flashback potential is just amazing.
Toshi is nifty. Kinda like Glissa. He's tournament-level-ish and has an ability that is unique to himself.
Legendary Creature-Squirrel
Indestructible
1/1
"We drove our axes into it a thousand times, impaled it with every arrow we had, threw rocks, and even set it on fire at LEAST twice. After all that, it just looked at us and cocked its head, amused at our efforts. I need a drink..."
~~
"There's your man. No, not that one. Not that one, either. Wait, yes, it was that one. Oh, what's the difference anyway?"
Snake Eyes, Servant of Joe 3G
Legendary Creature-Soldier Ninja
Ninjutsu 3G
First Strike
Whenever Snake Eyes deals damage to a player, you may say "Knowing is Half the Battle." If you do, save target kids from certain peril.
A Real American Hero.
"Why the hell am I green?" -Snake Eyes, Servant of Joe
4/4
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