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by David S. Wilson
Stretching Dominia Dollars, Part VIII Welcome back. Before I get to the modified review of artifacts as promised, I must first address a mistake I made in last months column. I have received notes from as far away as Brazil asking if Portals Is Tournament legal. I had not heard/seen anything saying it was not, but rechecked the DCI listing and Portals is not listed as Type II legal. I have sent an e-mail note to the DCI asking if Thundermare (Portals) is illegal in Type II play while Thundermare (Weatherlight) is legal. It would be completely illogical for a card to be illegal based entirely on what icon it has. I suspect Portals cards which have been released in other Type II legal sets are also Type II legal but have not received confirmation of this from the DCI. I will keep you informed if they ever answer my question. (Editor's Note: This is absolutely correct. All Portals cards which appear in identical form in a tourney legal set are legal for tournament play. For instance, all Portals lands are legal in all sanctioned formats; Portals Armageddon is Type 2 legal because armageddon appeared in fifth edition, and the Portals Thundermare will remain Type 2 legal for as long as the Weatherlight Thundermare is also Type 2 legal. - K. McLaughlin) Now the real question is do I still recommend Portals as the best buy. YES! Most of the power cards I mentioned are available in other sets and should be Type II legal. I suspect the few not available in other booster sets will reprinted as new sets debut and will become Type II legal. (Editor's note: Right again, it has been announced that several Portals cards are identical to some cards from the upcoming Magic set, Tempest. - K. McLaughlin) If this is not true then buying Portals becomes an individual decision. If the only reason you play Magic is to play in tournaments then I would advise you buy boosters for the 5th edition M:tg as they are second only to Portals for power cards. Now let's look at what I consider the best artifacts in Ice Age, Homelands, Alliances, Mirage, and Visons, followed by a review of what is being offered in Weatherlight. What I will list is the one artifact in each set that over time became the one I played the most.
Which brings us to Weatherlight. The set hasn't been out long enough to declare any one artifact the real winner. I've had limited success with the Bubble Matrix in combo with Phantom Warriors. I've used Null Rod to mess up my opponent's artifacts. I've used the Serrated Biskelion and it lacks what the Serrated Arrows had. The Mind Stone works fine and may be the underrated artifact that wins in the end. I like the Xanthic Statue when playing more then one person. The Mana Web sounds very strong but I don't have any to experiment with and see if it works as well as I hope. I plan on using the Dingus Staff this weekend to add punch to a direct damage deck. I've read about a lot of people making good use of Bosium Strip but only have one so far and will wait until I get another before I experiment with it. All my other Weatherlight artifacts have gone unused and will probably stay that way. See ya next month when I get gutsy and try to find the best dozen in HOMELANDS! It's a tough job...but someone has to do it! Thank you - Dave (Publisher's Note : Here's an addendum I just received from Dave; it basically repeats much of what Kevin noted above, but also includes a few statements that Dave wanted to stress. So, even though a little is repetitive, I'm including the addendum below...)
Addendum :
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