Back in October, I had the surprise privilege of introducing the Shards of Alara First Impression. I've returned again to lead us into the Conflux First Impressions, this time helming the entire event instead of reviewing. Conflux as I'm sure you know is the reunification of Alara. Unlike many sets, Conflux is a distinct event and precise moment in time. We get to see creatures from Grixis looking for fresh life in Jund, and colossal beasts from Naya devastate the serenity of Bant, as it happens! This is a set about change and for once we actually get to see the change as it takes place instead of the before and after.

This time around I actually have some of my own cards to review in the intro. That is because along with the five distinct shards we now have a totally separate entity - Alara itself. These are cards that are drawn from the Conflux and resulting Maelstrom. They have no allegiance to any of the shards, holding homage to Alara itself. Conflux is very much a set about all five colors as one, and it makes a striking attempt to make rainbow decks playable.

You'll notice some new faces on there and not a whole lot of old ones. I put a call out and lots of new writers stepped up since many of our old ones are now gone. Proof that First Impressions is more and more, the casual gamers impression of the cards they actually play. It is easy to see that casual truly is the heart of Magic Deck Vortex, but enough talk I'm sure you're just skimming this to the cards anyway.

Child of Alara WUBRG
Legendary Creature - Avatar
Trample
When Child of Alara is put into a graveyard from play, destroy all non-land permanents. They can't be regenerated.
6/6

Grade: A-. I want to state from the start that I hate the artwork, it's weird and the concept just seems bizarre. However, it's still a fun card even if False Prophet is in my eyes more playable for the same effect. While a 6/6 with trample is nothing to sneeze at, it is dwarfed by other rainbow creatures. Luckily it can fall back on that ability and be straight out decimating.

Conflux 3WUBRG
Sorcery
Search your library for a white card, a blue card, a black card, a red card, and a green card. Reveal those cards and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Grade: C-. Sure it is powerful, but I can think of numerous tutors I'd rather use than this card. Beyond being rainbow, it's quite costly at eight mana. When I look at this card I can't help but to think of All Suns' Dawn and now much better it is than Conflux.

Fusion Elemental WUBRG
Creature - Elemental
8/8

Grade: B+. Five mana for an 8/8 and the only thing you have to do is rainbow cast it? Yeah this is a cool card. The fact that it is only uncommon definitely helps up it's status in my eyes. I'm sure he'll be a part of every casual rainbow deck made from now on.

Kaleidostone 2
Artifact
When Kaleidoscope comes into play, draw a card.
5, T, Sacrifice Kaleidostone: Add WUBRG to your mana pool.

Grade: D+. Sure you can draw a card. Sure it's a decent filter, but it's no more than a common variety. I can think of no less than thirty other filter cards that help me play rainbow that are far better than this one. Draftable if you're going rainbow, by all means. I just wish it didn't take five mana to activate.

Maelstrom Archangel WUBRG
Creature - Angel
Flying
Whenever Maelstrom Archangel deals combat damage to a player, you may play a nonland card from your hand without paying its mana cost.
5/5

Grade: B. My only problem with this card is that if I can cast it normally I can probably cast almost anything in my hand. It would be a great choice for a reanimated creature, but then again so would a lot of other cards. What helps up it's stature is that it flies and is relatively larger than almost every other flier.

Mana Cylix 1
Artifact
1, T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

Grade: C. This is a fully capable easy to use standard mana filter. However, I'd rather play Mind Stone in Standard and Prismatic Lens in Extended. To be honest any of the Green fixers are much better too. I definitely prefer this artwork for the Cylix over the prior one.

Manaforce Mace 4
Artifact - Equipment
Domain - Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each basic land type among lands you control.
Equip 3

Grade: C+. The biggest problem with this card is it costs a lot to use and equip. When I look at my equipment I can think of five other typical equipment with better effects and equal or less cost. Warhammer, Jitte, Fire/Ice Sword, Light/Dark Sword, Heartseeker. That being said, this is a bomb in drafts and highly playable there. The main problem is that this is a card best at it's full potential (+5/+5), and if you can play it to it's potential your creatures probably have little need of +5/+5.

Obelisk of Alara 6
Artifact
1W, T: You gain 5 life.
1U, T: Draw a card, then discard a card.
1B, T: Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1R, T: Obelisk of Alara deals 3 damage to target player.
1G, T: Target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.

Grade: B. This is a fun card with tons of good options. The six mana cost may be a little much, but the variety of effects and surprisingly low cost of them makes it highly playable and usable for a variety of things. Direct damage, creature control, draw, and life gain. Can't think of a single other card with type of versatility.

Progenitus
Progenitus WWUUBBRRGG
Legendary Creature - Hydra Avatar
Protection from everything
If Progenitus would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Progenitus and shuffle it into its owner's library instead.
10/10

Grade: A. If you can cast this, you should win. It's a Darksteel Colossus on crack. I can't imagine Tooth and Nail decks not coming back with this guy in the game. I mean seriously, protection from everything? Hard casting him though may prove very difficult.

Shard Convergence 3G
Sorcery
Search your library for a Plains card, an Island card, a Swamp card, and a Mountain card. Reveal those cards and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Grade: A+. This is probably the best of the cards I reviewed and that says something. While it doesn't put any land into play, this card automatically fixes your mana. It might prove a little slow for tournament play, but there has never been a better tool for the casual player to actually attempt rainbow decks.

And there you have it. Your first ten Conflux cards.

I'll leave you with my top five Conflux cards to pick up:

#5. Nicol Bolas
Nothing says fun like an Elder Dragon. An unwieldy casting cost keeps him from impacting the game massively. However, there is no doubt casual players will love him and try to lay down the triple seven smack down.

#4. Exotic Orchard
The Fellwar Stone version of Reflecting Pool. Probably not as good as the pool, but by no means anything less than a good card.

#3. Apocalypse Hydra
Mana ramp decks will love this fatty that doubles in size once you hit X=5. The fact that you ping off of him makes him even more potentially devastating. Expect to see this guy roaring off as a finisher every now and again.

#2. Malfegor
This card may revolutionize some new Black Red recursion/control decks. A 6/6 for six with flying is a pretty nifty. The fact that you sacrifice your hand and potentially wipe out your opponent's creatures makes it distinctly interesting and begs to bed played with.

#1. Banefire
An improved version of Demonfire. This little nuker is an amazing finisher for numerous decks bypassing counters and stopping most prevention attempts. Expect to see this replace Demonfire and become the new X finisher of choice.

~Cashew~

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