I have always loved the release of a new set of Magic cards. Each time a set comes out, I feel like a young kid again, running down the stairs with wide eyes to open my Christmas presents.

Even during times where I was not paying attention to Magic, I would get this feeling, almost like a sixth sense tingling inside of me, when a new set was just around the corner. In this set's case, I didn’t even have an internet connection at my house, but I busted my butt to the library to download the spoiler, hustled home and read the list in great anticipation on my laptop.

First Impressions is intended to be a mildly in-depth, and somewhat comical, look at something that draws my interest. In this article series I will list the cards of the Planar Chaos, and will give my impression of the uses or lack of uses for all to see and ridicule to death. Part One will deal with only the Multi-Colored cards and the single Land of the set. Parts Two through Six will each revolve around a single color, as there are obviously more cards to cover in those selections.

Lastly, before I go into the cards individually, I will explain to you my grading system. Each card will be given a grade, based on the old school room grading system. A, B, C, D, and F; A being the best and F not cutting it (failure). You will see that I give cards different scores like A+ or a C-. When I am tabulating the scores and giving the overall Color score, I disregard the +/- and simply look at the grade letter.

An A will receive a score of 4, a B gets a 3, C a 2, D gets 1, and F doesn’t get a damn thing. I will add all the scores and divide that number by the total number of cards in that Color, which yields your score average. In the final article, I will end by reviewing and comparing the color scores.

So without further ado, I present to you, my First Impressions.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Rare Legendary Land
Each land is a Swamp in addition to its other land types.

A rule that all players need to know, and surprisingly, very few do is rule 212.6d, which reads as follows:

212.6d - The basic land types are Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. If an object uses the words "basic land type," it's referring to one of these subtypes. A land with a basic land type has an intrinsic ability to produce colored mana. (See Rule 406, "Mana Abilities.") The land is treated as if its text box included, "{Tap}: Add [mana symbol] to your mana pool," even if the text box doesn't actually contain text or the card has no text box. Plains produce white mana; Islands, blue; Swamps, black; Mountains, red; and Forests, green. [CompRules 2005/10/01]

What does this mean? It means that this land, and all other lands in play produce Black mana. Even though the card doesn’t say it, it does produce mana. This works well in conjunction with Magus of the Coffers, as the Magus will simply count the number of lands you control and dump that much Black mana into your mana pool. Nice guy huh?

I don’t think that this card is a bomb rare, but it is not bad, and is usable in both Limited and Constructed. So this card gets a…

Grade: B-

Cautery Sliver Uncommon 2/2 Creature — Sliver RW
All Slivers have “<1>, Sacrifice this creature: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player.”
All Slivers have “<1>, Sacrifice this creature: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to target Sliver or player this turn.”"

Why do Slivers with decent abilities require you to sacrifice them? Whatever happened to a good hearted creature with a decent activation cost; simply tapping them and tossing out a few points of mana to do an ability?

So I have to get a handful of Slivers in play, then sacrifice one or more to do certain abilities? In my mind, Slivers have turned into a comparison of Casting Cost vs. Power/Toughness, and ignore abilities, as most of them are not usable competitively.

This creature is a 2/2 for two. I can pay 1 to sacrifice it to either deal a damage to target creature or player or prevent a damage to a Sliver or my head.

Grade: B- Only because it is a 2/2 for 2, and could be looked at as a possible creature for Boros Wins deck.

Darkheart Sliver Uncommon 2/2 Creature — Sliver BG
All Slivers have “Sacrifice this creature: You gain 3 life.”

Again, a Sliver with a mild ability that requires you to sacrifice a Sliver. This ability lends the old Ravenous Baloth ability to Slivers. So when a meaty creature comes crashing through your Sliver hoard, or when Boros starts lighting your creatures up, or when God strikes again, you sit down for dinner and feast on your soon to be dead Slivers. If the Baloth was considered amazing at a 4/4 for 4, and gaining 4 life, then this creature should be right there as well.

Grade: B You are not going to crush people with this guy like you would a Baloth.

Dormant Sliver Uncommon 2/2 Creature — Sliver 2GU
All Slivers have defender and “When this creature comes into play, draw a card.”

Why is this guy 4 mana? Were they trying to copy the casting cost of Jungle Barrier? Were they scared that the card might be too strong? Either way, by making an entire race of aggressive creatures walls, they may have neutered the race more than help it. Dormant Sliver can be used as a Moat against a Sliver deck, or it could be used by a Sliver deck to rapidly draw cards. Remember what I previously said about the mild effects that require sacrificed Slivers. A Sliver deck could draw a lot of cards with the Dormant Sliver's trigger, then sacrifice it to gain life or any other ability.

Grade: B Top notch Sliver. Can be used defensive or passive aggressive. I love versatile cards.

Frenetic Sliver Uncommon 2/2 Creature — Sliver 1UR
All Slivers have “<0>: If this creature is in play, flip a coin. If you win the flip, remove this creature from the game and return it to play under its owner’s control at end of turn. If you lose the flip, sacrifice it.”

Wanna know why Frenetic Efreet always sucked? Because you always had a 50% chance of losing your creature. Forget the part about there being a 50% chance of you saving the creature. Mathematics will tell you that if you save the creature once, you will try to flip the coin again next turn, and your chances of getting two coin flips in a row are worse than getting one coin flip in a row.

Grade: F … for Freaking Bad. 3 mana for a 2/2 with no ability. It might as well be an artifact, at least that it is usable in a White Sliver deck.

Necrotic Sliver Uncommon 2/2 Creature — Sliver 1WB
All Slivers have “<3>, Sacrifice this creature: Destroy target permanent.”

I decided to say screw it and group all the gold Slivers together since I was having fun ripping on them. That is until I brought this Sliver up here and read it. Vindicate on clawed feet? Are you kidding me?

I’d play this guy in a regular WB deck. The guy is good for a few beats points, he is a good hearted body at 2/2, and once he gets his carapace broken, he sends something to grave with him. Amazing creature, regardless of race, but making him a Sliver makes all other Slivers a Vindicate on legs.

Grade: A+ Vindicate, in the flesh.

Intet, the Dreamer Rare 6/6 Legendary Creature — Dragon 3URG
Flying
Whenever Intet, the Dreamer deals combat damage to a player, you may pay <2><U>. If you do, remove the top card of your library from the game face down. You may look at that card as long as it remains removed from the game. You may play that card without paying its mana cost as long as Intet remains in play.

While I love big ass Dragons as much as the next guy, I have always had a problem with these dragon cycles. First, getting a flying 6/6 body for 6 mana seems a great deal, however, in the past, three colors was a problem. Today, it is fairly routine to do. Here is my problem. Since both players start at 20 life, and by the time the Dragons start hitting the table, both players are probably at 10 to 14 life, a single Dragons hit nearly kills the guy, so when do I even get a chance to use the Dragon's ability? All of these Dragons are ‘Kill More’. While the efficiency of the mana makes their attack worth the time and effort, the added ability is simply overkill.

So, I will simply ignore my thoughts and grade the Dragons by what is does. Intet does have a nice ability, as he allows you to cast a free spell at the cost of your opponents good health. I guess he is decent enough, however being Blue, Red, and Green doesn’t bode well for him, as I don’t see those colors being played much together.

Grade: B-

Numot, the Devastator Rare 6/6 Legendary Creature — Dragon 3RWU
Flying
Whenever Numot, the Devastator deals combat damage to a player, you may pay <2><R>. If you do, destroy up to two target lands.

First Impressions are everything. Always. Take this guy for example. When I was reading the card I was astounded. “What is its name?!? Numnuts?” That is how to get your name remembered.

So I fully expected to rip on this card for a terrible ability. WRONG. Not only is this guy super playable, being Red, White, and Blue, but this guy is a great closer. When he hits the opponent, he destroys two lands. See, the other Dragons have fluffy little ‘awesome’ abilities. This guy is in the realm of Mariano Rivera and Tiger Woods. The game is almost over, your bring in your bully, slam the door tight and shake the guys hand. That is exactly what Numnuts does.

Grade: A++

Oros, the Avenger Rare 6/6 Legendary Creature — Dragon 3WBR
Flying Whenever Oros, the Avenger deals combat damage to a player, you may pay <2><W>. If you do, Oros deals 3 damage to each nonwhite creature."

Like his brother Numnuts, Oros is a finisher. When he hits an opponent, he attemps to Wrath of God, except he limits himself. Herein lies the problem with this creature. He only deals his damage to non-White creatures. A quick glance at the pre-Planar Chaos Tournament scene would reveal to you that majority of the creatures are White.

Grade: B- He is still a Flying 6/6 for 6 mana.

Teneb, the Harvester Rare 6/6 Legendary Creature — Dragon 3BGW
Flying Whenever Teneb, the Harvester deals combat damage to a player, you may pay <2><B>. If you do, put target creature card in a graveyard into play under your control."

Another good finisher in the line of Numnuts. Teneb does do what Oros does not do, and that is put the final nail in the coffin. Immediately after impact, Teneb will grab that Akroma from their graveyard and flings her into play, under your control.

Grade: A They won’t always have a game breaker in their graveyard.

Vorosh, the Hunter Rare 6/6 Legendary Creature — Dragon 3GUB
Flying Whenever Vorosh, the Hunter deals combat damage to a player, you may pay <2><G>. If you do, put six +1/+1 counters on Vorosh.

Going back to what I was saying about the kill more. This creature does nothing more than make itself bigger. It does not slam the door shut, it doesn’t hinder the opponent anymore than it had two seconds previous, and might as well be a vanilla 6/6 Flying creature for 6 mana.

Grade: B-

Radha, Heir to Keld` Rare 2/2 Legendary Creature — Elf Warrior RG
Whenever Radha, Heir to Keld attacks, you may add <R><R> to your mana pool.
<T>: Add <G> to your mana pool."

Sometimes abilities of a card will catch you and make you sit and think about it for a moment. ‘What were they thinking, or planning when they created this card?’ That is exactly the case with Radha, Heir to Kelda. Whenever Radha attacks, you may add RR to your mana pool. This gets slightly tricky, as you are limited to what you may use this mana for. Remember, that you have left your main phase, so you can not use the mana for casting creatures, artifacts, enchantments, or sorceries (this does not apply to Flash cards, obviously). This leaves you with activated abilities and instants.

Then, on top of this, it seems to be just added for no reason, “T: Add G to your mana pool.” Why? The creature is a 2/2 for 2 and wants to add RR if you attack, yet G if you tap. The poor creature is very confused.

Grade: C+ I don’t know what to make of a Legendary Creature that is confused.

Scoring for the Land is pretty straight forward. It earned a B-, there was only one card, so the Lands get a 3. Good job.

There were 11 multicolored cards, and the total score was 32 points, averaging that out earns your multicolor cards a 2.91, which is a C+

Overall, I’d say that the Land card is alright, and the Multi-color cards are good to decent. I think Necrotic Sliver and Numot, the Devastator are head and shoulders above the other cards in this group. Just off of the top of my head, I can see a RWU deck formulating. In that deck, I see Lighting Angel starting the pillaging off, while counter and burn hold the opponent at bay long enough to get Numot on the board. A few swings of Numot leaves him with barely any life, few lands, and few options. With Blue getting access to discard, and White getting Force Spike, the compliment cards start to take focus, however, I’ll let you figure out the exact cards and quantity for your deck.

This concludes the first installment of First Impressions, Planar Chaos style. Join me next week when I sit down and cover the first color of the set, Black. Thanks for giving me a few minutes of your time.

cpn

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