With the recent act that brought the "Godbook" to the Web, WoTC has decided to just go ahead and spoil the entire set, rather than stick to their plan of unveiling things a card at a time. This gives everyone a nice little head start on brewing up the latest masterpiece -- this set has a lot of potential. For now, I'm going to restrict my gushing to just a single card from each color and go over the potential homes for each one. We'll start in Black with a card that will see immediate impact in Standard, especially with all the focus on Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic.


Clearly this will be an automatic four-of in most decks that pack Black mana, either in the main or sideboard, as it is strictly superior to Duress at fighting the Caw-Blade [more on Caw-Blade here] menace. You can take their Stoneforges, Sun Titans, or Jace, which makes this a discard spell almost as versatile as the Caw-Blade deck itself. While Hex Parasite is the heralded answer to all things Planeswalkers, Despise is likely going to put up much more consistent results. Stock up on these now as their price will only rise as the Blue-White menace continues to dominate.


This card is almost guaranteed to make an impact in Legacy; in Standard, however, it will be much more subtle. While many players are already taking steps to play around Spell Pierce, Misstep is a little harder to evaluate. There won't be a "right" or "wrong" way to play this card, but it will shine best in the hands of players who know the Standard format. Many will just slam it down in reaction to an Inquisition of Kozilek; it might be correct, it might not; rest assured that that sequence can decide the outcome of the entire game. Cards like this are like the New England Patriots -- it works best when the rehearsed situations come up.

In Legacy, again, this is a great investment from a financial standpoint. Mental Misstep is an absolute house joining a long line of powerful free Counterspells in the format. So, picking them up via trade or on the cheap makes for a great return down the road.


Finally the answer to Planeswalkers we've all been clamoring for! Card for card, the destroyer of Jace, the Mind Sculptors just for three mana. Sure, they get a 3/3 out of the deal. I don't care, it kills a Jace at instant speed and it's uncommon to boot.

Beast Within has an immense value with many other applications like blowing up Valakut, the Molten Pinncles and Khalni Heart Expeditions; and exchanging a worn out Sphere of the Suns for a 3/3 isn't an awful play either. For those of you complaining about not having efficient answers to Jace that aren't too narrow, here's your proof that WoTC does, in fact, listen to us.


Taking a detour from our relatively versatile options, I decided to take a look at a card that could revitalize an archetype. Dispatch is the new Path to Exile with a much steeper drawback than giving them lands: you have to be piloting a specific style of deck. The Blue-White Tempered Steel deck [as suggested by Frank Lepore on TCGPlayer] is a great home for this efficient removal spell. With access to Memnite, Ornithopter, and Signal Pest you have plenty of ways to charge up the Metalcraft functionality and you don't throw your artifacts away, unlike Kuldotha Red. Even in its "powered-down" version, it can tap down a key blocker to allow a lethal attack.

Seemingly narrow, there are a few other decks that can easily adapt to utilize this powerful spell. Caw-Blade already plays a large assortment of artifacts including Tumble Magnets, Sword of Feast and Famines, and other equipments. Dispatch can very easily fit into a revamped Caw-Blade shell and shine against a format built to take advantage of the other removal in the format. It also finds a nice home in a white-splashing Grand Architect deck, which can easily accommodate Dispatch with Sphere of the Suns and cards like Precursor Golem. This will be a sleeper card in the coming months, you can take my word for it.


Departing from the typical competitive analysis, let's take a look at a more Casual staple with very exciting Limited applications. Anything that gives value to cards like Ichor Wellspring, Semblance Anvil, or other such artifacts deserves a second look, and I can see this being a windmill-slam first pick -- provided you can draft around it effectively. Though, opening this in a Sealed pool with a good number of value artifacts is rarely bad.

Bludgeon Brawl really shines in a Commander deck built around powerful token generators and value artifacts. This combination allows you to continually harass the board with your little guys, all the while churning out spells like Journeyer's Kite, which gains additional value as a way to pump a General. I look forward to hearing stories about this card.


What do I really need to say about this card? It's basically a second coming of Baneslayer Angel, except it can rescue itself from harm's way. The ability to reuse the Germ token is the first of its type and turning any lowly Squadron Hawk into an aggro-stomper is close to ridiculous.

Batterskull is the card with most utility on my list acting in dual roles in almost any deck it'll see play in; against Aggro, it acts as a life buffer and consistent source of virtual card advantage; against Control, it provides a consistent and hard-to-deal-with threat that can quickly close out a game if left unchecked. The simple fact that you can tutor for it with Stoneforge Mystic makes it about a thousand times better in the format. An ignored Batterskull draws more comparisons with me to an ignored Meloku the Clouded Mirror during its heyday in Standard. It's incredibly difficult to profitably deal with Batterskull and it can take over a game quickly by leaving the requisite three mana open.

That's it for this batch of New Phyrexia reviews. I'm sure my compatriots will have plenty to talk about, so sound off in the forums about what you want us to write about in regard to this upcoming set; or share your own opinions about the set with us. Your quotes might make it to print!

Until next time,

Adam Spain
Roeher on MTGO and EoV
Roeher724 everywhere else

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