Locations
Mike also wanted to add the following:
“Since the Coalition is a five color deck, you will want to be sure to get all five basic land types out and take advantage of domain spells, Tribal Flames and Allied Strategies. You have three dragons, which can be game breakers. It helps to protect them with cards like Narrow Escape to avoid Phyrexia’s evil. Lastly, Phyrexia has powerful artifacts so be sure to save Thornscape Battlemage and Veduran Emissary to take out key pieces of the Phyrexian machine.” – Mike Turian
Cards with New Art
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We've spoken with Mike in the past and he's always been a great sport on Twitter. I get the sense that he is genuinely proud of the decks and sets he has created (and with good reason!) Both these decks are, at the very least cohesive, thoughtful and playable. It must be a great feeling to know that people out there are having fun experiencing something you put together yourself. I'd like to thank Wizards and Mike for their time and insight into the game.
And now that Mr. Turian has most likely stopped reading, I'll tell you what I really think about these two decks! First up- Phyrexia! Take a gander at the deck list:
[deck title=The Phyrexian Deck]
[creatures]*1 Carrion Feeder
*1 Phyrexian Battleflies
*1 Phyrexian Denouncer
*1 Bone Shredder
*1 Phyrexian Ghoul
*1 Phyrexian Negator
*2 Priest of Gix
*1 Phyrexian Broodlings
*1 Sanguine Guard
*1 Phyrexian Debaser
*1 Order of Yawgmoth
*1 Phyrexian Defiler
*1 Phyrexian Hulk
*1 Phyrexian Gargantua
*1 Phyrexian Colossus
*1 Phyrexian Plaguelord[/creatures]
[other spells]*1 Voltaic Key
*2 Dark Ritual
*1 Lightning Greaves
*1 Phyrexian Totem
*1 Phyrexian Vault
*2 Puppet Strings
*1 Whispersilk Cloak
*1 Worn Powerstone
*1 Slay
*1 Hideous End
*1 Phyrexian Arena
*1 Hornet Cannon
*1 Phyrexian Processor
*1 Living Death
*2 Tendrils of Corruption[/other spells]
[land]*25 Swamp[/land]
[/deck]
Welcome back Yawgmoth! It's been too long. While this deck may not pack the punch of the old-school Phyrexian decks, it captures the concept , synergy, and spirit of Phyrexia quite well. The way Voltaic Key works with the Phyrexian Colossus is classic. The way the cards ask you to pay life instead of mana while Tendrils of Corruption gets it back for you. And I think just about everyone could use a bonus copy of Lightning Greaves. I do find it a little ironic that this deck, which essentially revolves around sacrificing creatures for proper effect, was released within a year of the M10 rules changes. Imagine being able to sacrifice some of these guys mid-combat and not only dealing combat damage, but activating some pretty nasty abilities at the same time. It would have been beautiful! Truthfully, I think this is one of the better pre-con decks to hit the scene in quite some time. It is cohesive, fun, and packs a few interesting rares. But while we'll never see Phyrexian Dreadnought or even Phyrexian Librarian- we could have probably done with a tiny boost from one of my personal favorites- Phyrexian Soulgorger. I also have to note the Phyrexian Negator's inclusion in spite of the fabled "Reserve List". Maybe WotC has been reading more lately?...
[deck title=The Coalition Deck]
[creatures]*2 Thornscape Apprentice
*2 Nomadic Elf
*1 Quirion Elves
*1 Sunscape Battlemage
*1 Thunderscape Battlemage
*2 Thornscape Battlemage
*1 Verduran Emissary
*2 Yavimaya Elder
*1 Charging Troll
*1 Gerrard Capashen
*1 Darigaaz, the Igniter
*1 Rith, the Awakener
*1 Treva, the Renewer
[/creatures]
[other spells]*1 Evasive Action
1 Tribal Flames
2 Fertile Ground
1 Gerrards Command
1 Coalition Relic
1 Narrow Escape
1 Exotic Curse
1 Urzas Rage
2 Harrow
2 Armadillo Cloak
1 Darigaazs Charm
1 Riths Charm
1 Trevas Charm
1 Power Armor
1 Allied Strategies[/other spells]
[land]*1 Elfhame Palace
*1 Shivan Oasis
*3 Terramorphic Expanse
*4 Plains
*1 Island
*1 Swamp
*4 Mountain
*10 Forest[/land]
[/deck]
I don't think I am the right man to be reviewing this deck. I've never been a fan of the old "Rainbow" concept. I've always thought that magic loses a little something when all the colors are supposedly "working together" for one reason or another. Flavor-wise it makes total sense- the fate of the world is at hand after all! But I just prefer a "pure" evil deck with a distinct purpose like the Phyrexian one that comes in the same package. Though I do see the appeal of playing Lightning Bolt and Counterspell in the same deck! That having been said, I could have done with a few more dual lands in this deck. The Terramorphic Expanses are helpful but with all of the common and uncommon duals out there these days, I think this deck could have stood more of a chance against the hordes with some of these mana-fixing creatures being replaced by the appropriate land balance and freeing up some card slots. The dragons are a welcome addition and offer EDH players something to chew on and I love the new Armadillo Cloak. Don't get me wrong, I think this deck would be a ton of fun to play, especially against the Phyrexian deck, but rainbow, mana-fixing sunburst decks just aren't my cup of tea and typically fall flat because they are trying to fix mana for the first 6 turns. However, I'm sure there is an army of Johnny's out there just waiting to prove me wrong.
Conclusion
It's tough to really nail down a product like this with a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". As I said earlier, there are several reasons to buy this set but I can imagine a player profile that wouldn't be interested in it at all. It's really hard to "deck review" a preconstructed deck with a limited amount of rares/value prepackaged in without sounding too overly critical. Overall the package is certainly worth it's weight in Magic cards (and that can't be said for all of these sets!). You're not getting anything even close to standard, and a lot of these cards won't even work in extended. So this really is a product for either the casual player, or the hardcore Magic fan who wants something to play in between rounds at the next tournament. If that sounds like you, then why not pick this one up at your local shop this March 19th, 2010.
