Mirrodin Besieged First Impressions January 26, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews , trackback
The Mirrodin Besieged spoiler is finished, and I will discuss my favorite new cards, implications Mirrodin Besieged will have on draft, and the theme.
Some of the cards are quite good.
There are some powerful cards in the set that will make some difference in standard. In particular, artifact and infect decks will become more viable. My three favorite new cards include the following:
1. Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Tezzeret will likely make it into any viable artifact deck. It’s a lot like Jace in an artifact deck except “brainstorming” makes it bigger and it can kill the opponent really quickly.
2. Lead the Stampede
Lead the Stampede is basically card draw in green. I like that it can be better than Harmonize. It’s possible to get 5 cards for only 3 mana. Sounds good.
3. Leonin Relic-Warder
Leonin Relic-Warder is simply the best disenchant we’ve ever seen. It will be playable in Legacy (type 1.5).
Implications for draft.
I’m disappointed with how Mirrodin Besieged will influence draft. It was already hard enough to draft a furnace celebration deck using the sacrifice them, and it looks like that sort of deck will now be nearly impossible to draft. In other words, draft will almost exclusively be metalcraft or infect with almost no other options available.
Mirrodin Besieged has added some proliferate, sacrifice themed, and infect cards in “new colors” but that doesn’t mean anything for draft. Who wants to draft a third or fourth color? Sounds like a good way to try to trick new players into making bad decks.
I don’t want to say Mirrodin Besieged will be horrible for draft. It might be well designed for draft in general. I just think it’s a missed opportunity for something better — a better option to draft multiple combos and themes.
The Theme
Where Mirrodin Besieged shines is it’s theme — the story of two worlds at war. Phyrexia and Mirrodin fighting for domination. I suspect that the Phyrexians will succeed and transform the planet to New Phyrexia, but some Mirrans will survive. Another 10 years from now the Mirrans can save their planet from the Phyrexians and recreate Mirrodin.
Conclusion
Phyrexia has some good cards, it is a little disappointing for draft, and it has a great theme. I expect that it will be a pretty good set, but not perfect. My main concern is: How good will it really be for draft? That can’t be answered until we give it a try.
Comments»
Your favorite cards are Mirran or neutral (all planeswalkers are neutral). So why do you think that Phyrexia will win?
Phyrexia will win because of the 3rd set — and for reasons of flavor.
So you would say the third set is New Phyrexia and not Mirrodin Pure?
That’s right. I think it will be New Phyrexia.