| Hammerhead Shark |
Creatures which cannot attack unless opponent has
islands are not good.
|
| Heartstone |
There aren’t that many expensive creature abilities now. If
Spikes find their way into tournaments, these could see use, but
don’t count on it.
|
| Heat of Battle |
These are a good way to finish off an opponent hiding
behind walls, but when was the last time you saw one of those?
Blocking just isn’t significant in the current environment, and no
decent player would waste a card for such a poor ability.
|
| Hermit Druid |
Combined with Sylvan Library, he allows for large amounts
of land AND deck tuning. Throw in Constant Mists to keep
creatures off your back, and you’ve got a powerful little card drawing
engine.
|
| Hesitation |
Combined with a card like Bottomless Pit, this is marginally
useful. Even then, it’s a card the opponent can just toss a less
than useful spell at, then get on with his game while you can’t cast
anything or throw away card advantage to get rid of it. Real
counterspells are much better.
|
| Hibernation Sliver |
Returning slivers to your hand kills the speed of a
sliver deck, and paying 2 life to save a little sliver is rarely
worthwhile.
|
| Hidden Retreat |
Assuming you have a way of drawing (like Contemplation)
this will kill a burn deck. Expect White control to be a presence.
|
| Honor Guard |
The large amount of mana required to keep him alive isn’t
worth spending to save a 1/1. Just use Nomads and re-direct the
damage.
|
| Horn of Greed |
Decks which always wanted to use alot of land, but were
afraid of bad ratios, just got a little better. There is
definitely room for abuse here, especially with the many new Green cards
which put lands into your hand. Remember the opponent gets to
draw, too.
|
| Hornet Cannon |
Without some kind of way of abusing the tokens (like
Gravepact or Goblin Bombardment), this is a poor Rod of Ruin. I
don’t see it as useful in the current environment.
|
| Intruder Alarm |
Barring crazy infinite combos, this is no good by
itself. Casting a creature isn’t difficult to do, so there is
hardly a drawback. Portcullis doesn’t stop the creature from untapping
everything else either. Man-o’-War, Tim, and Aluren allow for infinite
damge, but that’s 4 cards in Blue/Green.
|
| Invasion Plans |
What is with all these blocking cards? This, at least,
could be used to force all the creatures your opponent casts to block
your big attackers and die. For 3 mana, though, there are more
consistent cards, especially since you can’t choose for the opponent not
to block.
|
| Jinxed Ring |
This is too inconsistent to be reliable as a source of
damage. Plus, you take a damage when you sac a creature to give this
away.
|
| Lab Rats |
Tying up 5 mana a turn just for a 1/1 is not that useful. If
they were instants, you could just cast them when you know you
won’t need the mana anymore. Volrath’s Stronghold is much better,
and that’s not that good.
|
| Lancers en-Kor |
For 5 mana, 3/3 trample is not good enough. While
redirection is useful in a smaller creature, one this large doesn’t
have as many damage problems.
|
| Leap |
The cantrip almost makes this worthwhile, but most of blue’s good
stuff flies anyway. Much like Bandage, you’ll often be holding this
wishing you had the extra card instead.
|
| Lowland Basilisk |
3 mana for only 1 damage is not good, and even if it
does block, it will probably be killed anyway. The opponent can
afford not to block and lose a creature.
|
| Mana Leak |
A counterspell for any color! This should make 5 color decks
better, and provide another 2 casting cost counter for counter-heavy
decks. Any deck with several sources of blue should use this.
|
| Mask of the Mimic |
Since you can only get copies of another creature in
play besides the one that was killed, this is a sub-optimal way to
make use of a creature that’s going to die. Casting it on a living
creature is really dumb.
|
| Megrim |
The 2 points are nice when the Bottomless Pit is out, or to make
Stupor more devestating. It is rather slow, however, and many players
would prefer to cast the Stupor first turn instead of waiting to put
this out.
|
| Mind Games |
The expense of buyback is prohibitive, and unlike Capsize,
the effect as no staying power. Once you lose surprise value
with it, you’d rather just keep Counterspell mana untapped.
|
| Mind Peel |
By the time you have 5 mana to recurse this, they’ll be able
to counter or cast everything anyway. Disrupting Scepter will usually
be better, but Mind Peel is Disk-proof.
|
| Mindwarper |
Since the discard is by choice, the counters will usually be
more effective as +1/+1’s, and a 3/3 for 2BB isn’t great.
|
| Mob Justice |
Since you can only target a player, Incinerate, Kindle, or
Shock will almost always be better. This and Mogg Infestation could
cause trouble, though.
|
| Mogg Bombers |
For 4 mana, a 3/4 or turns into an expensive bolt at the
first sign of a creature is a real waste of space. The opponent
just has too much control over whether he comes or goes, and you
can’t cast any creatures either, if you want to keep him alive.
|
| Mogg Flunkies |
For decks that are not packing large amounts of creature
removal, a second turn 3/3 is trouble. Sligh can now do 13 damage on
the third turn with Conscripts, this, and Ball Lightning. If
you’re packing 1 cc creatures, use these too.
|
| Mogg Infestation |
There’s lots of fun ways to use this card, but the 5
mana makes it impractical for most tournament decks. It’s fun with
Bombardment for you, or Earthquake and Aether Flash for the
opponent’s creatures but quite often you’ll be stuck with 4 lands and
this.
|
| Mogg Maniac |
He’s only 1/1, but if he’s ever killed, the opponent pays
for it. Combined with Kor, Furnace, Earthquake, and Firestorm, this
guy will be a force to be reckoned with.
|
| Morgue Thrull |
He’s too expensive to be useful in a Necratog deck, where
Hidden Horrors can be played for 3 mana, and his ability isn’t useful
in other decks.
|
| Mortuary |
Drawing dead creatures again and again isn’t always a good
thing. Volrath’s Stronghold gives you much more control over what
gets drawn again, and is cheaper. 4 cc cards should break the game,
and Mortuary doesn’t do that.
|
| Mox Diamond |
Except in very limited decks, the small burst of speed does
not account for the loss of a land. Decks will have to use extra lands
to accomodate this, and be ready to draw half of their opening hand as
mana sources to make good use of it. PropOrb gets the bonus of artifact
mana, as does Pox. 5cg could play Harvest Wurm to get it back. Other
than that, the Mox is too expensive and risky for a limited
effect.
|
| Mulch |
Unless you know the next cards in your library are land and you
want to keep from drawing them, or you want creatures in your
graveyard, this is too expensive. Hermit Druid, Harrow, and Rampant
Growth all provide better sources of a similar effect.
|
| Nomads en-Kor |
These are probably the best 1/1 for W available. They can
shrug off direct damage, or block large attacking tramplers. White
weenie could appreciated these.
|
| Overgrowth |
On the fourth turn, six mana is as good as four. It is
absolutely not worth wasting a turn to give yourself another two mana
unless you are under an Orb. Even then, Elves and Rangers are much
more efficient and generally useful.
|
| Portcullis |
At 4 mana, the cost is a bit prohibitive. It can be a great
way for a weenie deck to seal a victory (much like Armageddon,
preventing the casting of further creatures) or to keep the opponent
from surprising you with a big creature when the situation is currently
close to stalemate. For the second purpose, cards like Nekrataal and
Man-o’-War are perfect, as they will remove one creature upon
casting, and are then put aside by the Portcullis. When it is destroyed,
they will return and use their triggered abilities again. Another
possible combo with Portcullis, although it Is slow and not terribly
reliable, is to purposefully get several creatures set aside, and then
Jokulhaups or Apocalypse to destroy everything except those few
creatures.
|
| Primal Rage |
Once again, this is a card dependant upon blocking. Except
in very rare circumstances, your opponent will not be
chump-blocking to the point that this will allow for a significant
amount of damage. For a similar but much more useful effect, cast
Overrun.
|
| Provoke |
This is the closest Green gets to creature removal, but it is
also a cantrip, so I consider it a strong card. Forcing a block
will also allow you to take advantage of the many new cards which rely
on blocking to be effective. The situational use of the card is
counteracted by the potential for card advantage, forcing a chump block
and netting yourself a new card. For decks which aren’t
splashing other colors for removal, this is a great Green anti-creature
card.
|
| Pursuit of Knowledge |
This is another card that is very easy to break.
Combined with anything which allows you to draw and then expects you
to replace large numbers of cards, (such as Brainstorm or Sylvan
Library), Pursuit allows for 2:7 card advantage. A mostly White with
Green for library manipulation control deck could make use of
these by playing many early resources such as Sylvan Library, Hermit
Druid, and Contemplation, and then refilling their hand for the purposes
of Gerrard’s Wisdom. If you’re not going for a quick 3 counters,
though, beware Disenchant.
|
