This is a continuation of my set review that ran yesterday, yesterday's piece covers all the colored cards.

Multicolor and Artifact

#1 – Accorder's Shield, Auriok Replica, Barbed Battlegear, Bladed Pinions, Chrome Steed, Clone Shell, Darksteel Myr, Darksteel Sentinel, Echo Circlet, Etched Champion, Flight Spellbomb, Golden Urn, Golem Artisan, Golem's Heart, Grafted Exoskeleton, Heavy Arbalest, Livewire Lash, Myr Propagator, Myr Reservoir, Neurok Replica, Nim Deathmantle, Panic Spellbomb, Platinum Emperion, Prototype Portal, Razorfield Thresher, Rust Tick, Saberclaw Golem, Snapsail Glider, Soliton, Strider Harness, Sylvok Lifestaff, Sylvok Replica, Tower of Calamities, Trigon of Infestation, Trigon of Mending, Trigon of Thought, Wall of Tanglecord

#2 – Argentum Armor, Chimeric Mass, Contagion Clasp, Contagion Engine, Copper Myr, Corpse Cur, Culling Dais, Darksteel Axe, Darksteel Juggernaut, Glint Hawk Idol, Gold Myr, Golem Foundry, Grindclock, Horizon Spellbomb, Ichorclaw Myr, Infiltration Lens, Iron Myr, Kuldotha Forgemaster, Leaden Myr, Liquimetal Coating, Lux Cannon, Memnite, Mindslaver, Molten-Tail Masticore, Moriok Replica, Mox Opal, Myr Battlesphere, Myr Galvanizer, Necrogen Censer, Necropede, Nihil Spellbomb, Origin Spellbomb, Palladium Myr, Perilous Myr, Precursor Golem, Ratchet Bomb, Rusted Relic, Silver Myr, Steel Hellkite, Strata Scythe, Sword of Body and Mind, Trigon of Corruption, Trigon of Rage, Tumble Magnet, Vector Asp, Venser's Journal, Vulshok Replica, Wurmcoil Engine

#3 – empty

#4 – Venser, the Sojourner, Mimic Vat, Semblance Anvil, Throne of Geth

Argentum Armor – A bit expensive to play and equip, but if you are cheating this into play with Stoneforge Mystic I can see it happening. I doubt the magical christmasland scenario with Kor Outfitter will happen with any consistency, but it's worth dreaming about.

Chimeric Mass – A big creature fetchable by Trinket Mage. This card will be an integral part of Trinket Mage toolboxes alongside Everflowing Chalice and Mox Opal.

Contagion Clasp – Probably a bit too slow for what it does, since I'm not sure I want to be paying 4 for Proliferate, but perhaps it's good enough.

Contagion Engine – This is even slower than Contagion Clasp, but I can honestly see this easier, because it is powerful enough when it hits play and when you activate it. I think, in this case, bigger is better.

Copper Myr, Gold Myr, Iron Myr, Leaden Myr, Silver Myr – You probably won't want these cards but they're there. The only ones that might even see play are the blue and white ones, since they normally don't get decent mana acceleration. However, in this format, I think even those will not be good enough.

Corpse Cur – At some point, if the infect deck takes off, you might want to think about this card. Even so, probably not. Still, it's a Gravedigger and Gravediggers have proven to be playable in the past, so I can't dismiss it as definitely unplayable, even if I'm 99% sure it is.

Culling Dais – Kind of similar to Phyrexian Vault, albeit a little bit better. Is that enough to make it playable? Probably not, but it is a sacrifice outlet for nonsense like Grave Pact.

Darksteel Axe – Trusty Machete is the same card 98% of the time, and I think +1 toughness is probably better than indestructible equipment. I guess you could split the difference and run one copy of each, but I think decks that want this card will want Machete more, since the 1 toughness is randomly relevant.

Darksteel Juggernaut – If there's a mono-artifact deck this will be part of it. It's a large enough threat that the indestructibility matters.

Glint Hawk Idol – A cheap artifact that enables metalcraft while attacking for two in the air. Seems okay in a sort of weenie-skies build, maybe featuring Glint Hawk or something similar.

Golem Foundry – If you get two golems off of this you're probably fine, which makes it reasonable to play in a very artifact-heavy deck. I wouldn't go as a far as to say this card is good, but it does make golem tokens. Maybe they'll be some cute combo with Precursor Golem and Giant Growth or some other nonsense.

Grindclock – I suspect this will not be pointed at opponents very frequently. It has good synergy with Vengevine and Necrotic Ooze, so perhaps Dredgevine will want it.

Horizon Spellbomb – I doubt ramp decks need another ramp spell, but here is yet another option. It is a legitimate replacement for Rampant Growth and synergizes well with Explore.

Ichorclaw Myr, Vector Asp – Probably the best of the infect guys right now. Ichorclaw Myr gets big when blocked and Vector Asp is a one-drop. I believe these two guys will be part of the infect deck if it exists.

Infiltration Lens – This card is not bad, but Skullclamp it is not. It'll probably get slapped on Goblin Gaveleer a lot and just make them unblockable. I guess you could slap it on Scroll Thief, but that means you're playing Scroll Thief in constructed, which is so ten years ago.

Kuldotha Forgemaster – Yes it's slow, yes it has summoning sickness, and yes it requires you to sac three artifacts, but it still dumps big fancy artifacts like Mindslaver and Platinum Angel into play, which means you can't ignore it.

Liquimetal Coating – A very good metalcraft enabler that also turns your opponent's stuff into artifacts so you can blow them up. I think this card will see a solid amount of play over the next two years.

Lux Cannon – Yes, it's slow, but with Voltaic Key it's still Vindicate every other turn, which is perfectly fine with me. Given that Voltaic Key is fetchable off of Trinket Mage, I think this card is very playable, both in maindecks and sideboards.

Memnite – A solid metalcraft enabler (or maybe affinity in Legacy), but overall I think this card is more hype than substance. In general this is not going to be worth a card, which means most decks won't want it. The decks that will are decks that are running Tempered Steel and/or Steel Overseer alongside some equipment. I don't foresee that deck coming into being without another Mirrodin set.

Mimic Vat – The fact that it costs 6 for the first guy and the fact that the first guy has to hit the yard from play makes me think this is a fringe card at best. If you could trigger it off of something like a Fauna Shaman discard it would be a lot better, but as is, I just don't see it. You have to build around it for it to be good, and I think it's too fragile and slow to build around.

Mindslaver – Saw a bunch of play the first time around and still sees play in Eternal formats today. It'll see play in T2 this run too, mostly as a 1 or 2 of.

Molten-Tail Masticore – Probably the second most over-hyped card in the set. Masticore was good because it was a threat against both beatdown decks and control decks and thus useful to control decks and mid-range decks. This one is only really a threat to control decks. It doesn't regenerate from relevant removal (Journey, Condemn, Revoke Existence), and its activation is expensive, which means you likely won't be killing more than one dude a turn. This means that beatdown decks will play it and midrange decks can sideboard it. The problem is that those decks won't have the cards to feed it for very long. In the end, it's powerful and playable, but it's nothing especially amazing.

Moirok Replica – Mono-black control (if it is a real deck) might want this for card draw. I still suspect that it needs a mana engine like Cabal Coffers, but maybe they have enough little things that it's viable. People will try, anyhow, because it is a fan favorite.

Mox Opal – Congratulations, you have just won the award for most overhyped card in the set! Moxes are most useful on turns 1 and 2. This mox is not very useful on turns 1 and 2 (at least in T2). To see why, I refer you to the metalcraft chart that is at the beginning of this article. I see this card as a Trinket Mage target so you can Trinket Mage for colored mana later in the game, both in T2 and Extended. The artifact count just isn't there for this card to provide the explosive openings.

Eternal formats are a different story, as this is just about as good as a real mox for the right decks. This card's value will be largely driven by play in Legacy and Vintage, where I suspect it will be very strong. Its legendary status means that people probably won't play 4, but it'll be played. It's about as good as Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond in those formats.

Myr Battlesphere – Big artifact men that have tokens have seen play before (Tetravus, Pentavus, Triskelavus), so I'm not going to dismiss this guy. He has some advantages and disadvantages over his predecessors, but he is in the same mold. Some control deck might want this guy as a finisher.

Myr Galvanizer – Myr tribal is probably exclusively casual, but he is part of an infinite combo and I always keep track of those.

Necrogen Censer – 3 mana for 4 damage is fine, and this interacts with proliferate. Some aggressive mid-range deck might want this, especially if it has access to blue mana.

Necropede – Probably not playable but he does interact well with proliferate and trades with bears, so I wouldn't dismiss him.

Nihil Spellbomb – Will be used in exactly the same way as its brother – Relic of Progenitus.

Origin Spellbomb – A cycler that provides a 1/1 body, could be useful for the white metalcraft deck, if it ever happens.

Palladium Myr – The other part of the infinite combo; also, a mana accelerator, so worth noting just for that reason.

Perilous Myr – Hey, it's a removal spell that's an artifact! These always have a way of being surprisingly good and this one already has a relevant application – offing Kor Firewalker. I think there are probably better ways of dealing with the card but hey, you never know, maybe Shrapnel Blast will be reprinted, which would send this card's value through the roof.

Precursor Golem – This card is pretty bad, but at least you get to think of fun things to do with it, like cast Rite of Replication with kicker for a million tokens.

Ratchet Bomb – Wow, just wow. This card is insane. Engineered Explosives meets Pernicious Deed. This is one of two contenders for best card in the set (the other is Koth). Ultimately, I think the spiky football will win. It is playable in all formats and an auto four of in UW control right now. The ability to leave it on the table will be very relevant. For everyone who has played Pernicious Deed, you know how powerful of a deterrent simply leaving it on the table is. Ratchet Bomb will function in similar ways.

Rusted Relic – 4 mana 5/5 seems good enough in a mono-artifact deck.

Semblance Anvil – This is definitely a "build around me" card. The effect is powerful enough that it's probably worth trying but I think in the end it will turn out badly. Like Spellweaver Helix before it, it is probably just a bit too vulnerable.

Steel Hellkite – Big giant dragon that blows stuff up, sign me up. The six-mana slot is really full right now though, so I don't think he'll make it, but he is worth keeping in mind.

Strata Scythe – You'll obviously be exiling a basic land with this card, but the effect is big enough to be worth large equip costs. In constructed you need a pretty big effect to justify the higher cost of equip, and I think this delivers.

Sword of Body and Mind – This is a lot better than many people give it credit for. Protection from Green is very relevant for getting through blockers right now, and making a 2/2 is not a shabby ability either. It's not as good as its predecessors, but it is still a solid piece of equipment that I expect to see reasonably frequently.

Throne of Geth – This does allow you many proliferate triggers very quickly and if there ends up being a deck based on proliferate, this has a good chance of being a key component.

Trigon of Corruption – Removal on a stick that interacts with proliferate. I think the activation cost on the second ability probably kills the card, but Serrated Arrows saw play and I'm not sure that this is substantially worse.

Trigon of Rage – This is cheap enough that an aggro deck might want it, but expensive enough that they'll have to think long and hard about it. Investing 8 mana in this card, even if it is over 3-4 turns, is still a lot to ask.

Tumble Magnet – This is probably the best Icy Manipulator variant they've printed. I think it is definitely playable across all archetypes.

Venser, the Sojourner – I think he'll be good when his first two abilities are good, which means he'll be good in a creature-based shell that runs quite a few guys with 187 abilities (like NLB). I'm not sure that kind of deck is viable but it's been viable in the past. If that style of deck ends up being a format pillar then Venser will go up, but I don't see that kind of deck being tier 1 consistently.

Venser's Journal – I would not be surprised to see this card show up in the sideboards of control decks. While cards that exclusively gain you life are normally bad, this one should gain you 4-7 life a turn, which is nothing to scoff at.

Vulshok Replica – 3 power for 3 mana and you can sac it to Incinerate someone. It's a decent 3 drop for red if they want to go more metalcrafty, but I think Vulshok Heartstoker is better in most instances.

Wurmcoil Engine – I think this card is worse than Primeval Titan and Sun Titan and about as good as Grave Titan and Inferno Titan. It is easier to cast and rewards you for playing sweepers with it, but it also has a smaller impact on the game than the other titans. I think the vulnerability of this card to white removal (Journey, Condemn, Revoke Existence) will hurt it a lot. If it was a leaves-play trigger I would say it is stronger than the Titans, but it is not. As is, the card will see play, but if I'm in green or white, I think I'd rather just have the appropriate Titan.

Notes:

Extended play – I think this set will impact Extended less than T2, but it does have things like Koth, Ratchet Bomb, Trinket Mage, Mox Opal, and Stoic Rebuttal. I think some form of red aggro (probably Boros) and UWx Control will be major players in the next Extended season, especially with this set. UWx Control gains a very good counter (Stoic Rebuttal), alongside good control tools because of the Trinket Mage package. Fieldmist Borderpost will also serve as an excellent metalcraft enabler.

As for the Boros, its one drops are Figure of Destiny, Steppe Lynx, and Goblin Guide. If that doesn't make Boros a legitimate option in your eyes you must be playing a different game than me. The fact that it has Ranger, Koth, and Elspeth at the top end means the deck will have a solid Stage 2 as well as a very good Stage 1. What more do you want in an aggro deck?

I believe the rest of the metagame will evolve around these two pillars. Faeries and Jund will still be present and maybe there will be some ramp strategy as well. Doran will probably survive, but I think White Weenie goes the way of the Dodo. I think Boros is just a better version of the same deck.

As far as limited is concerned, I like this set. It looks like there are a lot of synergistic draft options and that a large number of the cards change in power level based on the deck you have. Metalcraft is good at accomplishing this, but the infect guys seem viable for limited play, as well as proliferate. Rise made me happy because there were a number of distinct archetypes and you had to draft a deck. Scars looks to me to be the same. Kudos to Wizards for making good limited formats.

I would include a bunch of new decks, but this article is already too long, so I'm stopping it here. You'll have to wait for my next article for deck lists.

Mythic + Ratchet Bomb Price Predictions (stabilized):

Chingsung Chang

Conelead most everywhere and on MTGO

Khan32k5@gmail.com