Most Underrated Cards in Ravnica

[GRUNT]

Cloudstone Curio :P. There's already some interesting decks built around it in the casual decks forum, that I think are pretty cool (one of them is by me! :P).

Since it affects any non-artifact permanent, there's a lot of potential for it to be combo-licious! It's just a shame I can't use Ornithopter + Primordial Sage or Any card with the 'Storm' mechanic :P. Can you imagine what it would be like if Cloudstone Curio affected artifacts, and i just continually summon ornithopters before casting brain freeze? *Shudder*

Still, it's such a quirky card that I like it a lot :).

[Mad Mat]

Cloudstone Curio + 2 kobolds + Tendrils of Agony(Brain Freeze can run into gaia's blessing)
I personally love privileged position. Two positions is close to game win(Ivory Mask), and they work fun with horobi. Sins of the Past can be quite fun too, with some cards.

[PerfectCell]

Cloudstone Curio is waaaay underrated, I agree.
I'm still not sure, it's kinda hard to judge (other than by price) how good people think some of these are. Loxodon Gatekeeper, for example, is one that I think is amazing, basically turning white into a mini control engine, not to mention getting a Soldier too. I think I'll give it another month or two, see what people want most, and then check into it some more.

[GRUNT]

Oh yeah, I also think Bathe in Light is way underrated :P.

That thing should be worth much more :P.

It can:

1) Save your critters from enemy spells, including mass-damage ones like Pyroclasm.
2) Counter enemy spells that he tries to cast on his own critters.
3) Let you take an enemy attack, and live to counter-attack.
4) Potentially make all your creatures unblockable.

That last one has been a game-ender for so many of my fights :D. I just love this card. It's the only radiance card I have in my Boros deck :P.

[Mad Mat]

I love Mortipede. No. I ADORE mortipede. That cards is just so good it's not even funny. If you want alpha strike, this is your card. This has won me every game I played thursday, except two, which I won with Dimir House Guard and flyers.

[PerfectCell]

1. There are way better cards outside the set; it's really not that cool.
2. Sisters of the Stone Death. It's like Mortipede, just removing everything that sucked, and did I mention it removes thing from the game? And gives them to you?
Considering that black/green generally can float a fair amount of mana, it's entirely possible to forceblock and remove the majority of an opponent's creatures. Next turn, voila, his army is your.
3. There are plenty of other cards that for cost are way better. That Darkness Aura can shut down a Mortipede, for crying out loud.
Frankly, I'd take just about anything over it. Even with Gaze of the Gorgon, it's still not impressive, given ideas like the Light of Removing Stupid Attackers From The Game that white gets.

[Ultima66]

I just run Taunting Elves.

[PerfectCell]

Thank you for the wonderful Ravnica choice, and the ability to view MDV's combo section.

[thegeneralpublic]

Most underrated card? Surveiling Sprite. Most useful common i've seen in a while.

[Mad Mat]

Originally posted by PerfectCell
1. There are way better cards outside the set; it's really not that cool.
2. Sisters of the Stone Death. It's like Mortipede, just removing everything that sucked, and did I mention it removes thing from the game? And gives them to you?
Considering that black/green generally can float a fair amount of mana, it's entirely possible to forceblock and remove the majority of an opponent's creatures. Next turn, voila, his army is your.
3. There are plenty of other cards that for cost are way better. That Darkness Aura can shut down a Mortipede, for crying out loud.
Frankly, I'd take just about anything over it. Even with Gaze of the Gorgon, it's still not impressive, given ideas like the Light of Removing Stupid Attackers From The Game that white gets.
1) Yes, outside the set, but I was talking about limited now. I'm not going to draft with an urza, planeshift and RAV booster
2) Autochton Wurm is way better than Watchwolf. It costs tons of mana more, but it's better. Green can generate lot's of mana, even in limited, but since most decks will be playing black(much cheap removal), those sisters aren't going to live that long. Mortipede isn't such a valuable creature as the sisters would be, considering their mana cost.
3) Each time I played it, I haven't regretted it. Offcourse Loxodon Hierarch is better, but that's a difference between common and rare. That aura can kill it? So Vinelasher Kudzu is pure crap, it dies to a darkblast! And about that light, it's uncommon, you really don't see it that much. If that's how you play, you could just stop playing spells, since they might run into a counter.

[blink]

brightflame.

people say its just a lamer version of fireball, but its actually won me tons of games.

it basicly reads:

if you have a lot of mana and none of your creatures are the same color as your opponents, you are untouchable for the rest of the game.

think about it, your opponent has a ton of creatures in play, you play brightflame, deal 5 damage to each one, gain 50 life, and your opponent is completely open for attack.

lame version of fireball my ass.

[PerfectCell]

Can it with the whiny open-ended crap. Mortipede is seriously not that good. You're one of those people who thought Electryte was awesome, didn't you? Seriously, Mortipede might be good with Gaze of the Gorgon, but on its own it's teh suck.

And Brightflame is amazing...we had a guy drop it for 8 damage last night and gain 64 life. One of the few cards where Radiance is ratcheted up to amazing.

[Mad Mat]

Originally posted by PerfectCell
Can it with the whiny open-ended crap. Mortipede is seriously not that good. You're one of those people who thought Electryte was awesome, didn't you? Seriously, Mortipede might be good with Gaze of the Gorgon, but on its own it's teh suck.

What does electryte has to do with mortipede? In fact, I never heard of the card 'till you mentioned it. And it sucks btw, if you wanted to know. All I'm saying is that Mortipede is awesome in draft. Why? Because it WINS you games. And because it's a common, so not so hard to pull. And because if it's not winning you games, it's still something with 4 power, meaning it'll take out most creatures played in limited. You never heard me saying it's amazing outside limited did you? When I said that, I just played a draft and won nearly every game I played with it, wouldn't that make you like a card? Why would that be whiny open-ended crap?


Oh, and Brightflame is quite funny yes, though the bad part is that it costs two white and two red, making it a bit harder to play in limited. It's fun in casual though, and crazy in mp.

[Mogg]

[quote="Mad Mat"]

2) Autochton Wurm is way better than Watchwolf. It costs tons of mana more, but it's better. Green can generate lot's of mana, even in limited, but since most decks will be playing black(much cheap removal), those sisters aren't going to live that long. Mortipede isn't such a valuable creature as the sisters would be, considering their mana cost.

A couple things that I just have to flat-out disagree with there.
1. Autochthon Wurm is not "way better" than Watchwolf. Watchwolf trades with plenty of cards that cost 4 or even 5 mana. In the early game, unless your opponent wants to double block a watchwolf, he can easily come through for 3-6 damage. I wouldn't even mind that much getting him late in the game. 3/3's are good in draft. Look at Greater Mossdog for comparison. Autochton Wurm, on the other hand, sits in your hand for most of the game not doing anything. I'd expect you to have to tap 5-6 creatures to play the Wurm late in the game. The only times you have that many creatures on the board late in the game and you're not winning all ready is if there's a big creature stall. Then, if you tap that many creatures to play autochton wurm, you'd better be at high life or you'll just lose to the alpha strike.
2. Sisters doesn't have to be on the board for a long time to wreak havoc on your opponent's board postion. Just one swing with Sisters can get rid of 4 creatures (pay 4 to make 4 creatures block and another 4 to remove 2, the other 2 die to combat damage). Or, they can just take your best creature and remove it from the game before combat so they have a replacement if you kill Sisters. You have to have an answer to Sisters the turn after they play it or you're in a very bad sisutation.

I also find it very ironic how you say Sisters is bad because it can be killed by black, but don't say the same about Wurm. Any black kill spell that Sisters dies to, Wurm can also die to, except that to play Wurm at the same cost as Sisters you have to tap 6 creatures. Tapping 6 creatures and having your creature die seems a bit worse than not tapping 6 creatures and having your creature die.

As to Perfect Cell's comment that Mortipede is bad, it really isn't. It's bad when you play it wrong (like I seem to do on a regular basis), but I clearly remember a game where my opponent and I were both playing some version of GB (I was splashing W). We were stalled out. I had evangel and Rotwurm on the board. So I could just keep pumping out creatures and win that way. Then he swings with mortipede and pays the mana. His other creatures come through for 17 (which was my life total). You really don't need to combo with Mortipede for him to be good. 4 power is enough to kill a lot of things in the environment and "all other creatures you control are unblockable for a turn" isn't horrible either.

EDIT: Would someone tell me how to format the quotes right, as I obviously can't. Thanks.

[Ninja Sloth]

Perilous Forays. With a token deck and a stine seeder your capable of getting every basic land in your deck out on one turn. Then you throw down a beacon of creation for the sucker punch.

[Maleficent]

Yes Perilous Forays is AWESOME! Pay 1 and sac a creature for a land, as many times as you want in a turn. And being green you can include Golgari Germination, almost any token generator, and with the black from Golgari to get your creatures back. Throw in a Vinelasher Kudzu or Stone-Seeder Hierophant (with a common guild land) and gg.

So is Surveilling Sprite. Thoughtpicker Witch, anyone? And while you're at it, throw im some recurral like maybe Necromantic Thirst on Dimir Infiltrator.

Oh and I've successfully played with a Sisters of Stone Death in my Stone-Seeder Hierophant deck. It's alright. If it doesn't get killed, it can kill a lot of their creatures and you can steal them, but it only has 5 toughness and they can always choose to block it with more than you can remove. Plus the abilities tie up a TON of your mana.

As for Autochthon Wurm... yuck. I have two, if you want them lol. Best way I could see using it is since it's green and white you can gain a lot of life to allow an alpha strike when you play it and end a stalemate... and pray it doesn't get killed. At least at 14 toughness it's not likely it'll die by damage.

Oh and Mogg, if you highlight all you want to quote and click 'quote' in the post a reply screen, ooor click quote on someone's post, it'll come up exactly how you should type it :D.

I think Stone-Seeder Hierophant is pretty underrated though. Sure it costs 4 and can die to a Lava Dart, but it's green which means it can come out FAST, and imagine it with those Golgari common guild lands. That guarantees playing a land every turn, and you can untap something that gives you 2 mana. Throw in Perilous Forays, Farseek, Exploration or the like (maybe even Mirari's Wake :shock:), and that's some serious mana.

[Emperor Crusty]

ok let me get this right for a green/white type deck i play Perilous Forays + Golgari Germination + Stone-Seeder Hierophant. But what about just playing Perilous Forays + Seed the Land along with a creature Stone-Seeder Hierophant, i can pull all my lands in my library into play (as long as mana exist), which means after a couple of turns my lands are in play and all that's left is land-less cards to draw from my library. AWESOME :yourock:

Also, everyone at the store for FNM says Terration sucks. i think it's a decent common artifact card, cause you can put it into play tapped first turn, then sac it second turn for a draw card and add 2 mana of any color combination. i mean in a R/W deck just pay any 2 color mana, sac terrarion, draw a card and say 1R and 1W to play any card (like boros guildmage, lightning helix, thundersong trumpeter, boros swiftblade or even sensei's divining top). and that is just a small ex. for R/W. just think of all the possibilities with low cast cards, using any mono or multi color decks, you can play with terrarion on turn 2. is this card under rated? maybe - sure, this is what i think.

****on a side note Golgari Germination cost 1 generic mana less to play then seed the land but still 2 nice combo to pull you lands and put them into play though.***

[Mad Mat]

Originally posted by Mogg


A couple things that I just have to flat-out disagree with there.
1. Autochthon Wurm is not "way better" than Watchwolf. Watchwolf trades with plenty of cards that cost 4 or even 5 mana. In the early game, unless your opponent wants to double block a watchwolf, he can easily come through for 3-6 damage. I wouldn't even mind that much getting him late in the game. 3/3's are good in draft. Look at Greater Mossdog for comparison. Autochton Wurm, on the other hand, sits in your hand for most of the game not doing anything. I'd expect you to have to tap 5-6 creatures to play the Wurm late in the game. The only times you have that many creatures on the board late in the game and you're not winning all ready is if there's a big creature stall. Then, if you tap that many creatures to play autochton wurm, you'd better be at high life or you'll just lose to the alpha strike.
You think I actually seriously meant that the wurm is better than watchwolf?


2. Sisters doesn't have to be on the board for a long time to wreak havoc on your opponent's board postion. Just one swing with Sisters can get rid of 4 creatures (pay 4 to make 4 creatures block and another 4 to remove 2, the other 2 die to combat damage). Or, they can just take your best creature and remove it from the game before combat so they have a replacement if you kill Sisters. You have to have an answer to Sisters the turn after they play it or you're in a very bad sisutation.
Well, one swing doesn't always happen. When sisters gets played she's obviously a beast with a huge [CAST KILLSPELL HERE] sign. And she costs 8 mana, of which 4 colored in two colors. Mortipede is way cheaper, a common, and can win you the game. I'm not saying it's the best, but it's not really bad either.


I also find it very ironic how you say Sisters is bad because it can be killed by black, but don't say the same about Wurm. Any black kill spell that Sisters dies to, Wurm can also die to, except that to play Wurm at the same cost as Sisters you have to tap 6 creatures. Tapping 6 creatures and having your creature die seems a bit worse than not tapping 6 creatures and having your creature die.
Look above. Obviously sisters is better than the wurm.


As to Perfect Cell's comment that Mortipede is bad, it really isn't. It's bad when you play it wrong (like I seem to do on a regular basis), but I clearly remember a game where my opponent and I were both playing some version of GB (I was splashing W). We were stalled out. I had evangel and Rotwurm on the board. So I could just keep pumping out creatures and win that way. Then he swings with mortipede and pays the mana. His other creatures come through for 17 (which was my life total). You really don't need to combo with Mortipede for him to be good. 4 power is enough to kill a lot of things in the environment and "all other creatures you control are unblockable for a turn" isn't horrible either.
That's the trick to use him with. I've won several games like this. I did the same in saviors with the nice green shinen.

[Maleficent]

Originally posted by Emperor Crusty
ok let me get this right for a green/white type deck i play Perilous Forays + Golgari Germination + Stone-Seeder Hierophant. But what about just playing Perilous Forays + Seed the Land along with a creature Stone-Seeder Hierophant, i can pull all my lands in my library into play (as long as mana exist), which means after a couple of turns my lands are in play and all that's left is land-less cards to draw from my library. AWESOME :yourock:

Well Seed the Land isn't in Ravnica :P plus it's rare, bah. That's a good idea though lol.

I don't think Mortipede is all bad. I probably wouldn't use it in constructed (though I get ideas with Vulturous Zombie...) but in limited it's really good. 4 power for 4 is decent on its own, plus the lure ability that can win you games. Or you could just use it to do 4 damage divided among creatures however you want while allowing your other creatures through.

Terrarion, eh, I've seen a lot of people use it in sealed, but I don't know why. It's nice it can fix your colors and draw you a card, but it's usually pretty worthless I think. Especially in late game. Imagine you're one turn away from death and all you need is some mana fixer - a land, whatever. And you draw Terrarion, which comes into play tapped :x. Something like that happened to me before, it's not pretty.

[Emperor Crusty]

Originally posted by Maleficent
Well Seed the Land isn't in Ravnica :P plus it's rare, bah. That's a good idea though lol.

who cares if it's not ravnica. but it is T2 worthy of a ban in magic, if you get the mana out fast enough, right? but hey it's all green so mana is no problem there. i'll build this deck and call it the common, uncommon, rare combo deck since the stone-seeder is common the perilous forays is uncommon and the seed the land is rare. but i don't know if i want to make is mono green or splash. and if i do splash what color should i use and what BIG creatures should i play besides vinelasher kudzu. i would like to make this a big or main project to build so let's start out with what cards to use and put it in the casual decks and stratagies. under the title T2 pull land or More Lands then You or to that degree.

[JSweeney]

Ehh.

I'm not a huge mortipede fan... but that's because I liked Shinen of Life's Roar so much.

It fills the same basic role as mortipede would, but only costs 1G.

[Mors]

Originally posted by Emperor Crusty+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Emperor Crusty)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-Maleficent
Well Seed the Land isn't in Ravnica :P plus it's rare, bah. That's a good idea though lol.

who cares if it's not ravnica. but it is T2 worthy of a ban in magic, if you get the mana out fast enough, right? but hey it's all green so mana is no problem there. i'll build this deck and call it the common, uncommon, rare combo deck since the stone-seeder is common the perilous forays is uncommon and the seed the land is rare. but i don't know if i want to make is mono green or splash. and if i do splash what color should i use and what BIG creatures should i play besides vinelasher kudzu. i would like to make this a big or main project to build so let's start out with what cards to use and put it in the casual decks and stratagies. under the title T2 pull land or More Lands then You or to that degree.[/b][/quote]


Well you already have a topic with that: [url=http://www.magicdeckvortex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1058]T2 Land Searcher.