The Superbowl is over and my Colts lost. Its ok, I used the time during the game to find 15 cards in my Rhys, the Redeemed deck to be replaced by Worldwake cards. Man, this set rocks!
This week we'll start up where we left off last week with some of the best cards for EDH in Worldwake. Let's take a look at the non creature Worldwake spells I think we'll be seeing in EDH decks everywhere.
Amulet of Vigor just screams combo! Let's see what goes well with this card... Come into play tapped lands love Amulet of Vigor, especially Selesnya Sanctuary and the other bounce lands. Team this up with Root Maze to insure you are the least popular player at the table. With Azorious Chancery, Ruin Ghost and Tideforce Elemental you have infinite landfall. Add Lotus Cobra for infinite mana.
The Zendikar block seems to have a lot of token generators, and Bestial Menace may be one of the best. 6 power, 3 creatures for 5 mana and one card! I'm busy getting this in every green deck I have.
Is every color going to have a Wrath of God soon? For {2}{R}{R} Chain Reaction should get rid of all those pesky creatures. It's not quite Wrath, as pro-red gets around it, but I believe Chain Reaction is as close as Red will get these days.
Dead Reckoning offers some good utility in a graveyard tutor with some creature removal as an added bonus.
I have this love/hate relationship with Counterspells. Mostly I love them when I play them and hate them when someone counters my spell! Dispel has a definite place in my EDH decks, if for no other reason than countering Counterspell.
I'm reserving judgment on Treasure Hunt until I've tried it a few times. With Sensei's Divining Top this card could be good. If I ever get around to building the 75 land deck I've been considering this will be auto include. Give this one a shot and get back to me, it seems good.
While there were some great Multikick creatures we went over last week, there are also some excellent non-creature Multikick spells in Worldwake.
How can you beat Comet Storm? We just love X spells in EDH, and we just love Multikicker spells in EDH, so how about a Multikicker X spell? Make it an instant as well? Red gets a great late game direct damage spell.
While red is best at direct damage and got that for a Multikick X spell, green's strength is in big bad creatures, hence Strength of the Tajuru. X +1/+1 counters on the target number of Multikicked creatures. This is also an instant, so makes for some excellent combat tricks. I just love these spells that let you use all of your mana late game.
Zendikar brought us Traps, and Worldwake continues the Trap series of cards with a few beauties.
I just love Ricochet Trap! I'm a big fan of Swerve, and this just one up's swerve! Don't forget that you don't have to target the blue spell if you pay the trap cost.
Slingbow Trap makes the cut for me. Green creature removal is hard to come by. Even ignoring the trap cost I like Slingbow Trap.
Zendikar also introduced Quests, an enchantment with a goal. Worldwake doesn't disappoint with some great new Quests.
Quest for Renewal is a cheaper Seedborn Muse for creatures that's harder to remove. Team this with Omnath, Locus of Mana and a few mana elves and get prepared for one big Strength of the Tajaru!
How many creatures does Quest for Ula's Temple hit? According to Gatherer there are 41 creatures with the creature types Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent. Some of those include Deep-Sea Kraken, Denizen of the Deep, Grozoth, Inkwell Leviathan, Kederekt Leviathan, Lorthos the Tidemaker, Simic Sky Swallower, and even Wrexial, the Risen Deep! I think I can find enough Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, and Serpents to make this quest worth my while.
I'm really excited about Marshal's Anthem! Give all your creatures +1/+1 plus it lets you bring a creature to your hand for every 1{W} you pay when you cast it. Late game Marshal's Anthem can net you a ton of cards!
Prior to Worldwake there was only one card that I thought should be in every EDH deck out there, and that was Reliquary Tower. Sol Ring and Sensei's Divining Top are almost always auto include, but not for every deck. Bojuka Bog should be in every EDH deck that runs black, period. This card is so good. It's almost too good. Removing graveyards is always a good ability in EDH, and since it only costs a land coming into play tapped, why not?
We love Sol Ring and Mana Vault. Everflowing Chalice is going to cost you more for the same level of production as those guys, but man can you ever make a big Everflowing Chalice! Teamed up with Sol Ring and Mana Vault... Wow!
So short of turning your Chameleon Colossus Colorless, Eye of Ugin is not going to reduce the cost of anything until the next set comes out. For now it can be a great every turn tutor for the many Artifact heavy decks out there. Even paying 7 for a tutor isn't that outrageous late game. Get a huge Everflowing Chalice out for a little help!
While Halimar Depths, Sejiri Steppe and Smoldering Spires are no Bojuka Bog, if you are playing a deck heavy in their respective colors with no advantages to playing the basic lands, i.e. no High Tide, abilities of these lands should be well worth the cost of a land coming into play tapped.
It's not Wasteland and it's definitely not Strip Mine, but with 100 card decks Tectonic Edge can definitely find a place in a deck that runs land destructing lands. This was a really good move from Wizards, and a nice fair piece of LD.
Well, that's all I got to say about that… Worldwake may not be great for Standard, but this looks like one of the best sets for EDH I've seen. I don't see any cards that will create new archetypes, but plenty of great additions. I don't think there is a deck out there that can't be better with a few Worldwake cards.
This Saturday 2/13/2010 I'm starting a new EDH league at Wizards Cupboard in Seminole, Florida [Ed. Note - Not Seminole County as I had previously edited it to say]. Signup begins at noon and the tournament starts at 1:00PM. Be sure to come by and see us!