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By: Fragoel2, Fragoel2
May 11 2011 1:26pm
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Hello, welcome to my constructed review of New Phyrexia! In the following and in the next articles I will analyze the cards from the newest set explaining possible applications in various constructed formats. Before we start I want to point out two things:

 

  • The analysis of each card reflects my opinion, you might disagree with it and I might be wrong. I will be happy to discuss with you in the comments, just don't be rude.
  • I left out from the articles all the cards that do not have a constructed application. I'm just not a fan of LSV-style horrible puns.


 

 

 

Blade Splicer

I bet you did not expect to see this card in a constructed review, right? Well, Blade Splicer is an interesting card in my opinion as at 3cc it has an affordable cost for aggressive decks and I think that cards that give you two bodies for the price of one are very very powerful in those strategies as they provide a great follow-up to Day of Judgment effects. For those reasons I would not dismiss an appearance of this card in block constructed. In standard there are far more powerful and cheaper cards in white so I doubt that it will see play in the format but maybe he could have a second chance after the release of Innistrad and the rotation.

 

 

Dispatch

If you're really really sure that you're always going to have Metalcraft then this card is better than Swords to Plowshares, but the only deck that fulfills this requirement that comes to my mind is Legacy Affinity and I'm not sure you actually want to play any kind of removal in that deck.

 

 

Due Respect

Due Respect could be used as a sideboard card in standard against Valakut decks, basically acting as a watered down Orim's Chant if you cast it on the turn they're going to play their sixth land. Of course then you really have to capitalize on the turn you gained and they still get to cast whatever they want with the five lands already in play so there are probably better options for the matchup.

 

 

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

I've seen many players compare this card to Crovax, Ascendant Hero but in my opinion this falls short in the comparison. First of all, it costs one more mana and there's a lot of difference between a six and a seven mana card. Second, Crovax had a second ability that made him almost unkillable, Elesh Norn instead can be dealt with any removal spell. Of course, as soon as she comes into play she'll wreck the opposing team but then why not play an actual Day of Judgment instead?

 

 

Exclusion Ritual

Oblivion Ring meets (Meddling Mace). Want to deal with one card once and for all? Then Exclusion Ritual is the card you have been looking for! It seems as a really neat way to deal with planeswalkers but I doubt it will see play outside of block, since in Standard for the same price you get the far more powerful titans. 

 

 

Norn's Annex

Ghostly Prison this is not. First it costs way more, and paying four life to get a reduction in mana cost is not the best thing to do when you're facing an aggressive deck. Second, it does not constrict the opponent development as it will probably just pay a bunch of life to keep getting in with is creatures. So, not only it costs more but also it does not work as good, pretty much unplayable in my opinion.

 

 

Phyrexian Unlife

A very interesting card on its own it basically gains you ten more life on the turn that it comes into play, but it can do more with some neat interactions. First, since all combat damage is dealt at once you do not get poison counters on the attack that sends you below zero. So, if on your turn you manage to gain enough life to get back to a positive life total you're pretty much invulnerable. The second neat interaction is with Ad Nauseam, combining both cards allow you to draw your whole library. (Angel Grace) is a better option to obtain the same effect in Legacy but this interaction can be used in Extended.

 

 

Porcelain Legionaire

Two life and two mana for a three power first striker is a really good deal for aggressive decks in pauper. On top of that it is also an artifact and white at the same time! In the last few sets white gained a lot of cards that play well with artifacts and with this new addition a White Weenie/Metalcraft deck could finally find its place in the format.

 

 

Puresteel Paladin

A good creature on its own, it plays perfectly with the other white cards present in standard (Stoneforge Mystic anyone?) and could provide some fresh air for Quest for the Holy Relic decks. Personally, I really like his interaction with cheap Living Weapon equipments like Mortarpod and Flayer Husk as, when you have one Paladin on the board, each one provides a creature, an artifact for Metalcraft and an extra card! 

 

 

Suture Priest

A very elegant design for a card that can have some applications in two different formats. In Standard it provides Soul Warden 5-8 for a resurrection of the old Soul Sisters deck. Still, much has changed since the first appearance of the deck and the whole deck concept of the deck needs serious reworking or might just not be good anymore. In Pauper, it provides white deck with another answer to Empty the Warrens and thus it could see some play in sideboards.

 

 

Deceiver Exarch

Totally unappealing on its own, it allows to port the Splinter Twin combo from Extended to Standard. Is the combo good enough to see play in the format? Yes, definitely, it can come out as soon as turn four, fast enough to race ramp decks,  and it is resistant to most of the removal that sees play at the moment (Condemn, Journey to Nowhere, Lightning Bolt). I really recommend you to pick up some Splinter Twins now!

 

 

Gitaxian Probe

One of the most interesting cards of the new set, Gitaxian Probe really reminds me of Street Wraith. When the Wraith was spoiled there was a lot of talk about playing a four of in every deck, simply to "cheat" on the number of cards in your library, reducing the total from sixty to a functional fifty-six.

In reality, things do not work as smoothly as one expects as having the Wraith leads to harder mulligan decisions, since you do not know what you're going to draw with it when it is in your opening hand. The same reasoning applies to Gitaxian Probe but the card has some interesting upsides in respect to Street Wraith.

First, you not only cycle the card but also get a "Peek" effect with the Probe, an effect that becomes even more powerful when attached at a zero mana cost as it allows you to see if the coast is clear before playing one of your big spells. Considering that in the actual Standard metagame resolving Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Primeval Titan is extremely important there are very good chances that this will see play in the format.Not to dismiss the fact that you can also just pay one blue mana instead of two life in the lategame. 

It also increases your storm count for free, a feature that could lead to its inclusion in Pauper storm decks, that could benefit from looking at the opponent hand to see if they have an answer for Empty the Warrens or not.   

 

 

 

Mental Misstep

Again we can evaluate this card comparing it to an older one, Spell Snare. Like Snare this can only target cards with a fixed mana cost, a feature that makes it too narrow to see play in Standard or Extended but it's fine in eternal formats where the card pool is wider and the low casting cost cards are more important. What really makes it interesting is that you can play this for "free", so you always can stop the opponent turn one play, no matter if you are on the play or on the draw, providing an answer in legacy to a lot of annoying cards like Aether Vial, Goblin Lackey and Sensei's Divining Top.

 

 

Phyrexian Metamorph

Sculpting Steel meets Clone, leading to a card that gives non-blue decks the possibility of cloning stuff. It's playable, and Genesis Wave deck might love the possibility of having a three mana copy of Overgrown Battlement or Lotus Cobra but otherwise I do not expect too much from this card.

 

 

 

 

Psychic Barrier

The Phyrexian Version of Essence Scatter/Remove Soul has a very minor upside for the price of one extra blue instead of one colorless. In my opinion the one point life loss is not really worth it unless you're actually playing this in a mono-blue deck where the extra colored mana really doesn't matter.

 

 

Tezzeret's Gambit

A colorless Divination for three mana and two life isn't really good, it gets better if you can take advantage of the proliferate and right now there's a good number of tier 2 decks in standard that rely on Everflowing Chalice and Tumble Magnet, where this could see play.

 

 This completes the first part of my analysis, part two coming soon!

Thanks for reading. Fragoel2
 

10 Comments

"I bet you did not expect to by Paul Leicht at Fri, 05/13/2011 - 03:33
Paul Leicht's picture

"I bet you did not expect to see this card in a constructed review, right?" Perhaps you missed Lord Erman's take on the set? He specifically mentioned Splicer for basically the same reasons you did. a 3/3 token + a 1/1 body for 3 is not bad at all.

Another thing nobody seems to by StealthBadger at Fri, 05/13/2011 - 06:52
StealthBadger's picture

Another thing nobody seems to be mentioning about blade splicer is that you can bounce your splicer with your jace and play him again, to build up a 3/3 each time. I can definitely see this coming up.

Also yeah, I'm pretty sure every constructed review is talking about this guy to some extent!

Yes, I've seen that and even by Fragoel2 at Fri, 05/13/2011 - 13:18
Fragoel2's picture

Yes, I've seen that and even LSV had mildly good words for it but when I started writing the article I still had not seen any of those :)

The most important thing by grandpoobah at Sat, 05/14/2011 - 18:04
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The most important thing about the splicers is that they generate an artifact with being an artifact. We can expect to see a fair amount of turn 4 Blightsteels thanks to this guy. Dunno if it's tournament worthy, but it's a solid combo.

EDIT: withOUT being an artifact :)

what? by ShardFenix at Fri, 05/13/2011 - 10:20
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what?

I think he's referring to by StealthBadger at Fri, 05/13/2011 - 12:31
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I think he's referring to shape anew.

ahhh that actually makes by ShardFenix at Fri, 05/13/2011 - 13:06
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ahhh that actually makes sense when I include shape anew in there lol

Oh yeah, sorry, it was by grandpoobah at Sat, 05/14/2011 - 18:10
grandpoobah's picture

Oh yeah, sorry, it was supposed to say withOUT being an artifact. In the forums I follow I'd seen a fair amount of chatter about the splicers replacing master's call etc for Shape Anew. But seeing as how we're not even seeing Inkmoth Nexuses being used for this, I'm not sure if there's a home outside casual play. And with all the tumble magnets and JTMS in STD I'm not sure that cheating a blightsteel into play is build-around worthy anyway.

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