It’s that time again! The newest core set has been completely spoiled and millions of Magic the Gathering players are rushing to their favorite spoiler page for the goods. Each time a new product is released, Leaf and I both put out a “Top 5″ list for that set highlighting some of the cards we really enjoy. I try to balance my choices between cards that I personally enjoy and cards that I think will have a huge impact on the game in all formats. After you’ve scoffed at my choices, feel free to comment with your own list!
This card is the ultimate O.G test for Magic the Gathering players. If, like me, the first thing that came to your mind when you saw it was "Twincast is red now!" then you probably aren't an MTG veteran. You might be feeling a little old but if the first thing that came to mind was "They're reprinting Fork!" then you are almost certainly an MTG Original Gangster! Congratulations. If Red Deck Wins wasn't a threat before it almost certainly is now. Not only can you double up on any burn spell in your hand, the great part about Reverberate is that you can copy an opponent's spell as well! Your opponent trying to heal? Why not heal along with them-- in red! What's that? Cruel Ultimatum, you say? Me too! There's nothing like having a little bit of control splashed into a red deck every now and again. A great throwback for old fans and a neat color twist on Twincast for the newer players.
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I'm not sure why there hasn't been more hype around this card. If a 5/5 indestructible for three mana doesn't get your swamp juices flowing I'm not sure what will! Between
Everflowing Chalice,
Mind Stone, and/or
Basilisk Collar I don't see this guy leaving play because of his drawback very often. He obviously loses a lot of his oomph after turn five or six but if you can drop him on turn three you're going to tear up shop. I'd put this card on par with
Phyrexian Negator and would probably choose it over the latter if forced. There is much less risk involved with casting Phylactery Lich than the Negator. Yes, trample is helpful and yes, the Zombie has an alternate way of imploding but if you're playing mono black, I think this card would make it into my deck before
Phyrexian Negator and that's saying a lot! Just splash a bunch of awesome, cheap artifacts that you should be splashing anyway and you'll be good to go.
The combo possibilities with a card like this are endless. Whenever you're paying one mana to put a creature into your graveyard you know you've got a lot of potential for abuse. Combine this guy with any black or white resurrection spell to get the creatures you want to reanimate onto the battlefield at a fraction of the cost! And that's not to mention the awesome creature grabbing ability. Searching your library for
any creature card is godly. Why not combine this guy with
Vengevine and get that little combo train going? I see this card as more of a casual threat than anything though I suppose we already had
Survival of the Fittest to abuse if you really had wanted this effect on the table. I like when wizards uses applicable creature types on cards that otherwise don't necessarily require them. Because of the Elf creature type this card could remain relevant for years to come.
Equipment, to me, is much preferable to creature enchantments. You usually pay about the same mana cost for the same abilities on
colorless spells that can be reattached over and over again. I especially enjoy equipment that gives a creature haste because the threat of a hasty creature in an off-pie color such as blue or black can be deadly at any power level.
Lightning Greaves does much the same thing for me currently. Vigilance, first strike and a little power boost doesn't hurt either. Needless to say,
Stoneforge Mystic is getting more attractive everyday. This sword is like a mini-
Akromas Memorial and turns even the smallest of creatures into bona fied threats. An obvious limited bomb.
It has been said that whenever a viable 2 CMC counterspell is printed (or in this case, reprinted) a merfolk gets her fins... Okay, maybe not but certainly a lot of blue wizards out there are jumping for joy! (including this one). Mana Leak is one of those cards that blue wizards beg for when they're told that their beloved Counterspell will never be reprinted. After roughly seven sets in a row that included Cancel an an article or two from the mothership defending the counters currently in print, we were beginning to lose hope. "Reprint Mana Leak at the very least! Couldn't you give us Remand!? Throw us a bone here, Wizards!," they cried. Well, my watery friends, I present to you, a bone. This card is unstoppable in the first five turns of the game and will "leak" just about any counter-worthy spell late game as well. In the average, six turn, competitive game of Magic your opponent probably won't be able to cough up the extra three mana in addition to any decent spell's casting cost. So basically you're looking at a 2 CMC hard counter in most cases which completely revolutionizes control in today's meta. Blue control is looking to make a big comeback this season with Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Deprive, Treasure Hunt and now Mana Leak. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to finish dancing this jig that I've been dancing since this card was announced.
We encourage you to reply to this article with your own top five! If you haven't already, try wrapping your cards with the "[card]" tag!
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