Yawgmoth's Destiny: Urza's Dead Jim
Part 1 Brought to you by Opalescence, an enchanting fragrance from Calvin Klein
Yawgmoth's Destiny: White (Part 1) Yawgmoth's Destiny: Blue (Part 2) Yawgmoth's Destiny: Black (Part 3)
June 7, 1999
Fear not, those who worried it wouldn't happen. Fear not, those who thought that my first nationals would keep me from talking about the latest set. Fear not, those who thought these went the way of my old look. Here it is, in all its glory: Every card included. Including the horribly broken ones. Here are the conditions I settled on:
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Every now and then, I'll have to say something like "There's a way to abuse this card" without explaining. Actually, I think this is better, to a certain extent. It puts the fun back into deckbuilding.
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Any decks I give are basically going to be fun decks. In other words, I'm not going to build a Bargain deck here (I have four, all of which are potential problems and one of which I would consider ready for the US Open if it had to be; more on this when I get to the card), and the decks are not tested enough to insure the numbers are correct, that they have the right mana base, etc.
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I've gone back to the Broken/List/Excellent/Good/Weak/Useless scale. More information doesn't really help that much. If you're wondering where Average went, think about how good the average card is. I'm only bothering to mention Type 1 if it seems like it might matter. Most cards in the set are not going into any T2 decks, and I try to explain why. Many of them do impact the US Block environment, though. I'll deal with that in depth later on, well in advance of the qualifiers.
1/2. When Academy Rector is put into a graveyard from play, you may remove it from the game. If you do, search your library for an enchantment and put it into play. T1: Weak - Here even Yawgmoth's Bargain is a crutch EX: Horribly Broken (I have the deck) T2: Watch List US: Watch List
I have a suggestion: No more effects that say 'Search your library for a ---- and put it directly into play" without a restriction, possibly on the casting cost of the card you get. As it is, if you could find a good way to always get the Rector into a graveyard from play, you could get Yawgmoth's Bargain and get some serious card drawing action on the cheap. Also, at a cost of only 3W, you could even use the Rector in normal fashion, like getting your choice of control enchantments out of a W/U deck. Think about if this card just said: "…Gain control of target creature" or more accurately "…Gain control of target creature OR Gain control of target enchantment OR Whenever a creature attacks you, gain 1 life OR gain Pay 1 life: Draw a card OR gain whenever you play a card, draw a card." Not bad. One thing you have to watch out for, however, is playing too many bad cards in your deck.
Enchant Creature. Growing. Gains: T: Do X damage to target creature in combat. All: Useless
An Enchant Creature has to do something right away to be good in constructed. Otherwise, you're just putting a big 'kill me' sign on the creature. And the reward for having that sign ignored has to be pretty big. Here, it isn't. I think it's pretty clear that this has to get to level 3 before it's better than Hermetic Study. What's the potential situation where you can use this? Let's see. Your opponent must be attacking or blocking. You need to have a creature that doesn't need to attack. Your opponent can't be able to kill either it or an enchantment. And you need to live a few turns. The best case for this may be in a WW mirror matchup, where it goes on a Paladin En-Vec and controls the board. But a Tradewind Rider still ruins your day. I don't think this will ever be worth a SB slot. In US Block the number of decks that can't kill creatures and still uses them is very low.
1/1, First Strike, 1W:+1/+0 T1, EX, T2: Useless US: Weak
In current type 2, the question here has to be: Does not casting the second colored mana make up for this card's loss of protection and power? If you compare it to the Tempest creatures, the answer has to be no. But once Rath Cycle is out of the picture, it's much harder to find a better cheap creature. Still, the gap between one and two power is huge, even for pumpable creatures. If this is in your deck, you're probably playing the wrong deck. When I deal with US block constructed post-bannings, I'll give my view of the deck where this would most belong, which is W/R.
Enchant Creature. Gains +1/+1. 2, sac it: Draw a card All: Useless
If you can generally afford to sac it, you should be playing Glorious Anthem or Crusade or a bigger enchantment, since you have the mana. If you can't, you shouldn't bother with the Standard. Brilliant Halo is a much better card-economy WW enchant creature card, since it can allow you to control the game. Counting the 2 mana to sac the standard (otherwise it's a pretty bad card) the Halo is actually cheaper for more effect.
2/2. W: +0/+1 All: Useless
It's a Gray Ogre. White already has plenty of good options for the three slot. Even in US block, you have Pegasus Charger, Ticking Gnomes and Cathodian. While the ability isn't useless, it isn't that good either.
False Prophet 2WW
2/2. If it is put into a graveyard from play, remove all creatures from the game. EX: Useless T2, US: Good
In general, I'd rather have a real Wrath of God. With False Prophet, you have to kill it, and with Shadow and Flying it might not be so easy. There are two reasons to use it. One is that it's a creature, allowing you to search for it and put it directly into play. I can certainly see a Survival deck going for False Prophet on occasion, especially since you can use various tricks to remove your opponent's creatures from the game while preserving yours in your graveyard. It's also a decent weapon against Death, but if they Death they don't lose any creatures to it, which is unfortunate. You can use Sneak Attack or other methods to not pay for this card or not let it be countered. Once you get to Extended, the tricks that let you use False Prophet well belong to decks that are not viable. Much as I like Survival/Recur, even without the combination, Extended is seriously messed up right now.
Fend Off 1W
Instant. Target creature deals no combat damage this turn. Cycling 2. All: Useless
It was a good idea to give this card cycling, since it can clearly be traded for a decent creature in the right situation but is a dead card in matches without creature battles. But it's still not good enough, because it can't easily result in much of a profit. Sure, you can get a creature that costs more than Fend Off. But if I put a card in my deck I'll often end up cycling, I need something more.
1/1. Tap an untapped creature you control: Prevent the next one damage to target creature this turn. EX,T2: Useless US: Weak
Another good idea that doesn't quite make it. The Surgeon gives you a huge advantage in creature combat, but it can't deal with flying or shadow creatures at all, and in constructed it's rare to get into the kind of situations where you hang back with multiple creatures. If you're holding back Mother of Runes to protect another creature, its ability is better than the one it gets from the Surgeon. It does turn an all-out attack by your opponent into a disaster, but you can't stop the extra ones from damaging you. I'd really like a bigger version that could prevent damage to players as well. As it is, this card won't come into its own in constructed very often.
Flicker 1W
Sorcery. Remove target nontoken permanent from the game, then return it to play under its owner's control. EX: Useless T2: Weak US: Good
US Block is filled with creature enchantments, growing enchantments, CIP creatures and sleepers, giving this card many uses. In T2 you can play creatures like Radiant's Dragoons and Avalanche Riders that can easily be worth Flickering back in, along with the occasional Legacy's Allure or other such problem. But starting it is a serious problem, because it doesn't help you get off the ground and will normally be one for one when you do use it, and you'll need to pay echo on your CIP creatures again. It's a pity that this card couldn't have been an instant, allowing it to interfere in combat and therefore making it easily maindeckable. It has at least one other use, and that is Donate.
Jasmine Seer 3W
1/1. 2W,T: Reveal X white cards and gain X+X life. EX, T2: Useless US: Weak
For four mana, a 1/1 with such a high activation cost better have a game-winning ability. Some of the other Shades fit that bill very well. This one doesn't. Sure, a live and active Jasmine Seer could stop entire decks. But it will basically stop yours at the same time, requiring you to hoard your cards. To make this work, you'd need to play at least mostly white in defensive fashion. There is a way to do that in US block worth looking at, though, involving (of course) Yawgmoth's Bargain, and even then I'm not so sure this card belongs. It's nowhere near as good as Radiant's Dragoons, in any case.
Enchant Creature. Enchanted creature gains Protection from Red and Black. All: Useless
This card seems like it was designed to be maindeckable. But it really isn't. If you're playing against a two color deck, and it isn't R/B, this isn't worth it. Only against R, B, or R/B would you play it. Against R or B, it's one mana better than Prismatic Ward, which was much closer to being maindeckable. Against R/B, it's interesting, but it would have to be a SB card. If you're playing white, is this the best you can do? You probably wouldn't even bring it in against anything but a R/B deck with no artifact removal, and in US block I'd expect such a deck to bring in Ring of Gix, Masticore or Thran Lens to deal with it. With all those options, and all of them being good, I'd stay away.
I/4. T: Prevent the next 4 damage to target creature or player. All: Useless
Five mana is a ton. Is Master Healer good enough to stand up to creatures like Morphling and Phyrexian Plaugelord that give you control over the board combined with great beatdown? Clearly it doesn't, and colored mana cost isn't that important at such a high CC. One thing that would have made this card much more interesting is if it could use its ability the turn it was played, like Field Surgeon, although it's probably still too weak.
Opalescence 2WW
Enchantment Each other global enchantment is a creature with power and toughness each equal to its converted mana cost. EX: Useless T2,US: Fun
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There are two basic approaches to using Opalescence. One is to use it in a deck with a ton of enchantments as a finisher, like Titania's Song was used in prison decks. The other is to play Opalescence on turn 4 and serve. For this purpose, one thing to note is that you actually want two Opalescence in play, since they then activate each other. The other is that Replenish becomes an amazing card for you. So you then get to divide your time between exercises in graveyard stacking and those involving enchantments. Since they don't lose their abilities, you get to select those that are good to have with a lot of bland creatures. You're going to pump them up.
You have multiple game plans here. One is to play Opalescence normally along with other enchantments and have fun. One is to play Peace of Mind or Intuition and then bring everything in with Replenish. Fervor allows you to win the turn you bring everything back, with Levitation giving everything flying just in case. The deck is going to have an automatic problem with decks that kill/counter Opalescence (can you believe that word was in the spellchecker?) and with combo decks, since your goldfishing can't be as good as theirs. But it should be fun.
2/2. When it is put into a graveyard from play, Disenchant. EX,T2: Useless US: Weak
I strongly suspect that R&D just overestimated the usefulness of creatures with this mechanic. You have to either play a way to kill the creature off, or risk that when the ability really is important the creature will live. Expect to see Ring of Gix become a major player in US block if these creatures start to appear in numbers. In this particular case, you get a choice of two abilities, either one of which would be a little weak as a CIP effect by itself. Disenchant is a spell that you need to be able to control; when it's important, it's often all that matters, including the ability to do it NOW.
Replenish 3W
Put all enchantments in all graveyards into play. T1: Useless EX, T2: Watch List US: Excellent
Obviously this is a very dangerous card. Yawgmoth's Bargain by itself is worth getting, aside from other tricks (like the Opalescence deck above). Players should have little trouble finding easy ways to stack their graveyards. This may give birth to new enchantment decks. Does this help out Humility /Prayer, and if so does it help more or less than the switch to Humility / Caltrops? There are many broken ideas, many involving Yawgmoth's Bargain.
Sanctimony 1W
Enchantment Whenever one of your opponents taps a mountain for mana, you may gain 1 life. EX, T2, US: Good
Comparing this to Warmth, Warmth allows your opponent to kill you with Cursed Scroll or Hammer of Bogarden, while this doesn't. You only get one life off some spells, but I think this is a better anti-Sligh card. In the cases where they're not playing that many mountains, Warmth wasn't that good anyway.
Reveal X white cards: Gain X+X life. EX,T2,US: Weak
Unless you're using this with Yawgmoth's Bargain, this is just a situational life gainer. To be better than Healing Salve (due to the flexibility of the Salve) you need to be gaining 6 life most of the time. Most decks can't hold that many cards for that often that aren't land, and this isn't that great a way to start the game, including the simple reason that you don't want to show your hand on turn one.
Scour 2WW Instant. Lobotomy an enchantment. EX,T2: Weak US: Good
These cards really should search in play as well, but for some reason they don't. Because of that, you can't get two for one all that often. In fact, the best use of this card is probably just to make Rancor go away. But in US block, that's a pretty worthy cause along with seeing his whole deck, although Erase is probably more cost effective. Comparing this card to the other similar ones in Destiny shows that Scour is probably overcosted by about a mana.
2/2 Flying; T: Target creature in combat gets +2/+2. All: Useless
Just comparing this to other four-cost creatures like Tradewind Rider makes it clear how inadequate it is. In Urza's Saga you have Herald of Serra and Radiant's Dragoons if you're willing to pay echo, and Tormented Angel or Masticore if you're not.
Solidarity 3W
Instant. All creatures you control get +0/+5 until end of turn. All: Useless
Four mana is too much for this effect, which is basically just that your creatures are immune to damage this turn. If used in creature combat, it's clearly overpriced. The only normal reason you might want it is to counteract a Fault Line or Wildfire, but if that's what you want you should use Absolute Law. The last reason would involve taking advantage of that massive toughness for something other than the creatures living, but I can't think of an effect good enough. In general, almost all cards that give toughness are horribly overpriced.
2/3, Flying. If you control no enchantments, sacrifice it. EX: Useless T2: Weak US: Good
A 2/3 Flyer would normally cost 3W or so, although you wouldn't actually use it unless it was 1WW for some reason, so this basically saves you two mana. The problem is that it's really hard to find a deck that plays enough enchantments that come down quick enough to make this worthwhile. If you're running a Sanctum deck or other enchantment-based engine, a 2/3 isn't worth much to you once you have the multiple enchantments to insure its survival. If you're just using a bunch of enchantments, how reliable can this card be? Once you play Glorious Anthem or Crusade, what else are you going to use? Creature enchantments are a bad idea because he can then get massive economy by killing the target. There does seems to be one US block that might incorporate the Griffin, which is going to involve a lot of sleepers. To illustrate how hard it is, consider why I didn't put Griffin in the Opalescence deck. If you don't have Opalescence, a single Griffin isn't going to win many games. If you do have it, the Griffin isn't that much better than your other creatures and it isn't brought back by Replenish. Covetous Dragon can easily go all the way; the Griffin isn't going to that often. Still, it is going to be a key part of the enchantment based US white deck, which makes it good there.
1/5 Flyer EX, T2: Useless US: Good
Tormented Angel is a great illustration of why Dancing Scimitar is actually decent. The Scimitar fit into Necro decks for a while because it blocked everything and killed a lot of creatures, and in particular was great at dealing with the white pump knights and 4/4 flyers. It also got around other anti-black cards. Tormented Angel doesn't do any of that. It's going to walk into whatever anti-white defenses your opponent has. Flying isn't as important anymore for a blocker. This card no longer has a reason to exist, with Radiant's Dragoons being a much better choice for the decks that might be tempted. In US Block it's reasonable for a deck to want both.
2/2 Flyer. Protection from green EX,T2: Useless US: Weak
That's what we need: A flying creature with protection from green. What a combination. In addition, it can be killed by Cursed Scroll (or Masticore), which together with its high CC makes it useless even against T2 stompy. In US block, Voice of Duty is the only creature with protection from green, so it may have its uses, but it's probably not worth the cost to most decks.
Summon Ed Koch. 2/2 Flyer, protection from blue EX,T2: Useless US: Weak
Well, he really is immune to the blues. As he said when he lost: I'll get a better job, but you won't get a better mayor. He did, we didn't. And now he can block Morphling. The problem is that a four cost creature isn't easy to sneak past blue decks, and this isn't really that much of a problem to them anyway. But it is the only good way to block a Morphling, and in US block no one actually counters anything anyway. But again, Masticore just kills it without trouble, and Ring of Gix taps it. I don't see it giving blue decks that much trouble.
0/5 Wall, can block any number of creatures each combat. EX, T2: Good US: Excellent
This is the next Stronghold Wall, as opposed to the normal trash walls you find in stores. Any way to unsummon Wall of Glare or make it live can solve all your problems in ground combat; put Hero's Resolve on it and he can grab a Snickers. Just alone, it blocks 4 damage a turn and can fog one turn against a non-green deck when it wants to. The amount of time it buys you is insane. Mother of Runes can let it block basically at will. W/U control decks have splashed green to get Wall of Blossoms, and now they get a really good wall for themselves, possibly allowing the deck type to make a comeback without playing Humility.
Well, that's everything in white. White gets a bunch of lousy creatures and effects, the solid Wall of Glare, the funky Opalescence and the dangerous Academy Rector and Replenish. When I first saw the set, I thought that kind of divide was disappointing; the vast majority of the cards could have been significantly strengthened without trouble. They should have been. Can four cards make up for that, especially if one of them was a major mistake? I've basically decided that yes, that's not all that bad. Next up is blue.