It is Alara’s shard of decay and despair; disease and death. The first time around, there were vampires, demons, zombies, horrors, and pretty much every other kind of nasty you can think. This time around, they’ve given it a twist. So join us, Potatobrain and AlasterEisaroh, as we journey into the darkness for the sights, sounds, and smells of… Grixis.

Absorb Vis 6B
Sorcery
Target player loses 4 life and you gain 4 life.
Basic landcycling 1B (1B, Discard this card: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.)

(Potatobrain) Grade: C+
I personally feel this is the best of the landcycling bunch, and that's not saying much. If you're playing mono black, Cabal Coffers or Twisted Abomination or Dark Ritual are all far better choices. If you're playing a blend of colors, I'm sure the non-Black ones will have better options, especially if one of them is Green. Still, at seven mana, the four point life drain is not too shabby considering that a Consume Spirit requires six mana for the same effect.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: C
A limited card at best, after all an eight point life swing in your favor can save you in a tough situation, or just buy you some time. Also, pitching it for that basic land you are missing can help as well. In fact, the basic land cycling is probably the main reason this card is used in any game.

Blood Tyrant 4UBR
Creature - Vampire
5/5 Flying, trample
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player loses 1 life. Put a +1/+1 counter on Blood Tyrant for each 1 life lost this way.
Whenever a player loses the game, put five +1/+1 counters on Blood Tyrant.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: A
A great card to pull in any Limited format, as it just keeps getting bigger with each strike. This card shines its brightest in multiplayer Free-for-All games, because after all, Verdant Force is a force to be reckoned with in multiplayer games (no pun intended), and all it does is make Saprolings.

(Potatobrain) Grade: A-
Hell yes! This is the kind of card Wizards should print more of! Assuming you're playing multiplayer, his first attack will actually be for a minimum of nine (one life loss during the upkeep for at least two opponents, seven from his new attack power). Very smooth. This card screams Paradox Haze and reanimation. Did I mention he has flying and trample, an insanely powerful combination of abilities? The only weakness is the seven mana, three-colored casting cost, which definitely removes it from tournament viability, but hey, I'm a casual multiplayer guy, I don't participate in tournaments anyway.

Brackwater Elemental 2U
Creature - Elemental
When Brackwater Elemental attacks or blocks, sacrifice it at end of turn.
Unearth 2U (2U: Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
4/4

(Potatobrain) Grade: D
Seriously? Three mana for a non-hasty 4/4 that dies? I hate this kind of card. More often than not he's going to get chump blocked by a 1/1 and go to the grave. If you're lucky his unearth ability might help, but that's another three mana. Unless you're playing mono-Blue aggro, steer clear. At this point in Magic, nearly every color has some sort of 4/4 for three mana or less (Ashenmoor Gouger, Tarmogoyf, Jotun Grunt), and they are all way better than this guy. I mean seriously, you print this crap and the magnificent Esperzoa in the same set? I am unimpressed.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B
I like this card, but then again I like unearth. Sure this is just Fog Elemental sans flying, but still it can either deal some damage, or take down a creature or two.

Controlled Instincts U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant red or green creature
Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B-
Situational at best, cards like this have never really piqued my interest. Sure it costs one Blue mana, but by the time you really need an effect like this (if you ever do) you'll have the mana for something much better.

(Potatobrain) Grade: C
I totally agree with Alaster. I am not a fan of color specific targeting, and you can’t get much more situational than that. You'll never use this in a deck unless you're in a draft, and even then it will probably be relegated to a sideboard card. For one mana though, it's not bad to have a creature never untap.

Dreadwing B
Creature - Zombie
1UR: Dreadwing gets +3/+0 and gains flying until end of turn.
1/1

(Potatobrain) Grade: A
Incredible! Turn one play that can swing for FOUR flying damage on turn three. It is almost the budget player's version of Figure of Destiny (Grixis colors of course). If he swings for one damage, he has already paid for himself. If he swings one time for four damage, then Dreadwing will have gone above and beyond the call of duty. I am definitely putting this in my Blood Tyrant deck.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade C-:
An all around underwhelming card, usually a 1/1 will go without a second look unless it has a good effect, and sadly for Dreadwing paying three mana, two of which are colored, to give it +3/+0 and flying isn't that good.

Elder Mastery 3UBR
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3 and has flying.
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to a player, that player discards two cards.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B+
If you can get this on a creature and keep it there, this will do some damage. Sadly it cost a lot just to play this, so by the time you do the discard effect it will likely be next to useless.

(Potatobrain) Grade: B
Not bad at all. This card is a creature in and of itself, and it's in one of the two colors that takes advantage of auras: BLUE. Now that Academy Researchers is back in Tenth Edition, I can definitely see people abusing this card to attack with a monstrous 5/5 flying specter on turn four. Again, it's kind of expensive at six mana, but it'll turn whatever it's enchanting into a miniature Nicol Bolas. Perhaps they should have called it Specter Mastery instead, because it only makes you discard two cards.

Extractor Demon 4BB
Creature - Demon
Flying
Whenever another creature leaves play, you may have target player put the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Unearth 2B (2B: Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
5/5

(Potatobrain) Grade: A
Jackpot! This card just screams Johnny. It's a 5/5 flier for six mana, which is a good start. It has unearth, to swing in for damage one last time. It also has an insane ability! Keep in mind it only says "leaves play", not "is put into a graveyard". That means that by himself, the Extractor Demon is capable of milling four cards off the top of someone's library (two if he dies, and two more when he gets unearthed). Now, combine this with any kind of recurring sacrifice ability in Black/Red/Green, phasing/unsummoning in Blue, or removing from the game in White, and you have an engine just waiting to be built. Hell, if you don't want to wait for six mana, you can unearth him on turn three and go for some crazy combo then. I see some kind of Nether Traitor or Carrion Feeder loop happening in my play group's near future...

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: A
I agree with Potato on this one, it screams “build around me!". There are plenty of combinations you can do with this card. Overall a nice card that I can think of a bunch of possibilities for.

Fleshformer 2B
Creature - Human Wizard
WUBRG: Fleshformer gets +2/+2 and gains fear until end of turn. Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. Play this ability only during your turn.
2/2

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B-
... I don't really like this card that much. First of all it isn't that great, being a 2/2 for three mana. Secondly, to get any real use out of it you need to pay one of each color, which is too much of a high cost for +2/+2 and fear, with the chance to kill a creature. Sure if you have the mana go for it, but unless I really need to I don't see myself using its effect.

(Potatobrain) Grade: B-
Hmm, we gave this guy the same grade, but rather than not liking him, I am merely indifferent, and I say this guy is OK. I'm a big fan of the new cycle of small guys that beef up when you pay the full domain. Although Fleshformer doesn't become as big as his counterparts in the other colors, he still has evasion in the form of fear, and he gets the additional bonus of taking out any creature with two or less toughness. If I had to choose, I would pick one of the others, but Fleshformer makes a nice backup .

Font of Mythos 4
Artifact
At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws two additional cards.

(Potatobrain) Grade: B
Four mana to draw two extra cards a turn? This card is quite exciting. Unfortunately, unlike it's smaller cousin Howling Mine, it can't be turned off by tapping it. Also, just like Howling Mine, the main downside is not that your opponent draws the cards as well, but rather that he or she is drawing them FIRST. Perhaps this card will have a place in some new combo deck that punishes opponents for drawing. Kederekt Parasite anyone?

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B+
Howling Mine with twice the cost, but twice the extra drawing power. Although this cards lacks the off switch that Howling Mine has, it has the potential to speed the game up like crazy. I think I'll stick with Howling Mine however if I ever need something to accelerate my drawing power.

Grixis Illusionist U
Creature - Human Wizard
T: Target land you control becomes the basic land type of your choice until end of turn.
1/1

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: C-
It seems we get a new version of this card every set, sure with the domain theme of Conflux this card may see some play in Limited, but in other formats this card just won't make the cut.

(Potatobrain) Grade: C+
We DO get a new version of this card every set. I ran a quick search on Gatherer and came up with six other creatures, and that doesn’t include other colors and types of spells. Anyway, I'm feeling kind of ambivalent about this card. On the one hand, it's an easy way to fix your Grixis mana base in three colors that have nearly no mana fixing at all. On the other hand, it can't target your opponent's lands, making it a little less effective than some of its counterparts (Reef Shaman anyone?). Not bad, but not exactly good either.

Grixis Slavedriver 5B
Creature - Zombie Giant
When Grixis Slavedriver leaves play, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token into play.
Unearth 3B (3B: Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
4/4

(Potatobrain) Grade: D if you're hardcasting, B if you're unearthing.
Well, this guy is pretty simple. You put him in a graveyard deck of some sort, perhaps a madness variant. You unearth him, you attack, and you get a Zombie token for your trouble. Played any other way, this card is useless. For six mana, you can get an Extractor Demon, and as we all know, that card is the bomb. Grixis Slavedriver? More like a firecracker.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B-
A nice 4/4 that gives you a nice little pet when it leaves play, all around this is a pretty nice uncommon that can give you a 2/2 in its wake. With its unearth ability you can easily get around its huge casting cost.

Hellspark Elemental 1R
Creature - Elemental
Trample, haste
At end of turn, sacrifice Hellspark Elemental.
Unearth 1R (1R: Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
3/1

(Potatobrain) Grade: B+
Spark Elemental's recurring twin! Simply put, this guy is one mana more, but can be played twice. I can definitely see this becoming a staple in mono Red burn decks. Excellent!

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B+
I agree with Potato here, this is a very well designed card, that I can see being used in a lot of fast Red decks.

Infectious Horror 3B
Creature - Zombie Horror
Whenever Infectious Horror attacks, each opponent loses 2 life.
2/2

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: A
Ooooh! More multiplayer goodness. A couple of these going into the red zone will quickly whittle your opponents’ life totals away. This is the kind of creature that as soon as it hits play will most likely be the target of all kinds of opposing removal. Still a very nice card all round.

(Potatobrain) Grade: B
I was originally going to give this a D, but then noticed Alaster’s grade and decided to give it a second read. It was then that I realized it said opponents, plural. That’s right folks, you attack anyone with this bad boy and everyone suffers! Pretty snazzy. I couldn’t quite bring myself to give it an A though, 2/2s for four mana always make me cringe a little bit.

Kederekt Parasite B
Creature - Horror
Whenever an opponent draws a card, if you control a red permanent, you may have Kederekt Parasite deal 1 damage to that player.
1/1

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: A
I like this card, it is very nice, and is a great 1/1. Add this to cards like Spiteful Visions, and Underworld Dreams, and you'll be packing the damage on your opponents fast.

(Potatobrain) Grade: A-
Definitely a strong card. When it comes to Black and Red decks, one damage a turn is huge. If you throw in some crazy card like Wheel of Fortune or Wheel of Fate, this one mana guy will administer seven damage to the domes of all your adversaries. Even if you never get to use him, the fact that he will require your opponent to waste a kill spell on him makes him worthy of play.

Malfegor 2BBRR
Legendary Creature - Demon Dragon
Flying
When Malfegor comes into play, discard your hand. Each opponent sacrifices a creature for each card discarded this way.
6/6

(Potatobrain) Grade: B+
For all its coolness and power, Malfegor just doesn't do it for me. The drawback is not very bad, and it would make Malfegor very appealing in Hellbent decks, but I can't get over the fact that many opponents won't be playing any creatures at all. The other problem is that by the time you get him into play, chances are either you won't have enough cards in hand to kill more than two creatures, or your opponent will have too many creatures for you to be able to eliminate them all. These two problems result in Magic's first Demon Dragon being good, but not amazing.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: A
Wow! Just wow. Where is the downside to this card? A 6/6 with flying, that kills X number of creatures upon coming into play. Sure you have to discard your hand, but you will be taking out a bunch of creatures by doing so. Plus it works well with hellbent.

Pestilent Kathari 2B
Creature - Bird Warrior
Flying
Deathtouch (Whenever this creature deals damage to a creature, destroy that creature.)
2R: Pestilent Kathari gains first strike until end of turn.
1/1

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B-
A flying deathtouch is nice, but I don't like the fact that you have to pay three mana, one of which is colored, to give it first strike. Oh well, it is a common, and a pretty decent one at that.

(Potatobrain) Grade: D
A decent common? More like a crap common. Why do creatures with deathtouch always have low power? For three mana, this creature should at least do two damage. The only redeeming feature is the ability to activate first strike, but for three mana to use it, this creature will cost you six mana for a mediocre ability. It'll be really good on defense though, and if you have some way to boost its power, it might be playable in certain decks.

Rotting Rats 1B
Creature - Zombie Rat
When Rotting Rats comes into play, each player discards a card.
Unearth 1B (1B: Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
1/1

(Potatobrain) Grade: B
Ravenous Rats' new and slightly skewed brother. This card would be an A if it didn't require EVERYONE to discard a card. As it is, it's pretty good in a reanimator deck, allowing you to drop your fattie while nabbing a card from your opponent. It also gets much better in multiplayer, and as we all know by now, that's pretty much the only format I play.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B
This is the kind of card Grixis loves, it lets you discard your unearth creatures while your opponents are forced to discard something they would rather not, and because it has unearth you can double the discard, and double the annoyed glares at you.

Rupture Spire
Land
Rupture Spire comes into play tapped.
When Rupture Spire comes into play, sacrifice it unless you pay 1.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B+
Common five color mana fixing is nice, but having to pay one mana as it comes into play can slow you down. Even with that I can see this card being a widely used land in casual formats.

(Potatobrain) Grade: B+
Hurray! A common land that gives you one mana of any color! It'll set you back one full turn, but once you've paid for the costs and waited it out, you've got a very sexy City of Brass without the damage drawback. Very exciting.

Sedraxis Alchemist 2B
Creature - Zombie Wizard
When Sedraxis Alchemist comes into play, if you control a blue permanent, return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
2/2

(Potatobrain) Grade: A-
I can't tell you how much I love this guy! If you're playing mono Black, he's garbage, but as soon as you have some Blue going on, he's a Man-o'-War on crack. C'mon, didn't you always wish that Man-o'-War could boomerang permanents? I know I did.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B-
Not as good as Man-o'-War, but still can be quite annoying if dropped at the right time, and targeting the right creature. The only thing I don't like about this card it the fact you need a Blue permanent in play to use it's effect.

Shambling Remains 1BR
Creature - Zombie Horror
Shambling Remains can't block.
Unearth BR (BR: Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
4/3

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: A
This card is great, any four power creature is usually a pain to deal with, but fun to use, and because it has unearth it can come back for one last attack. The only downside to this card is the fact it can't block, but who’s going to be blocking with it?

(Potatobrain) Grade: B
Well, he's Ashenmoor Gouger with one less toughness and has an unearth ability that lets him come back for one more swing. Sounds pretty good, but I'd still play Ashenmoor over him any day.

Voices from the Void 4B
Sorcery
Domain - Target player discards a card for each basic land type among lands you control.

(Potatobrain) Grade: C
I'm a big fan of discard, but by the time you bust this guy out, your opponent probably won't have any cards in hand anyway. Nuff said.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: C
Another domain card, that seems like too much work to get anything out of it. With this set you'll have much better cards to play with mana of each color. This card is completely overwhelmed by some of the other cards in this set. Although if you have the mana for this, and need to get rid of your opponents (or your) hand then this card will take a big hit out of that players hand.

Wretched Banquet B
Sorcery
Destroy target creature if it has the least power or is tied for least power among creatures in play.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: A
This card is nice. Being able to destroy any creature as long as it has the lowest power is great, and at one Black mana you can't complain about the price.

(Potatobrain) Grade: D
Meh, I must respectfully disagree with Alaster on this one. There are just so many random “destroy target creature with…” cards that are not very good in Magic right now, and this is just another one to be added to the pile. I see no reason to use this card, except for maybe as a combo with Mr. Vhati il-Dal.

Yoke of the Damned 1B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When a creature is put into a graveyard from play, destroy enchanted creature.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B
This is the kind of card that can make your opponent be wary of their creatures. It would be nice if this card had flash so you can destroy two of your opponent's creatures before they know what hit them.

(Potatobrain) Grade: B
I totally agree with Alaster on this one. Not only will your opponent be very afraid of having his chump blockers die, but if you’re playing some kind of sacrificial deck, this card spells instant death for whatever it enchants. More of these, and less Wretched Banquet style crappy Terrors please.

Zombie Outlander UB
Creature - Zombie Scout
Protection from green
2/2

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: B-
Hey everyone, Vodalian Zombie got reprinted. I can see this card doing good in Limited, but other than that there isn't much to it.

(Potatobrain) Grade: B
The solid cycle of Invasion protection grizzly bears are back! I would give it an A, except that Vodalian Zombie is exactly the same but is also a Merfolk, and in today's tribal world, that's way better than being a Scout. Still, pro-Green is always good.

Well, that about wraps up this article. High fives all around, team effort, good job, see you later dear readers.

What?
What’s that you say?
We forgot a card?
Now which one would that be?

Oh right, this one :

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker 4UBBR
Planeswalker - Bolas
+3: Destroy target noncreature permanent.
-2: Gain control of target creature.
-9: Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker deals 7 damage to target player. That player discards seven cards, then sacrifices seven permanents.
5

We saved this card for last simply because it is probably the reason why most of you are reading this… and because it is NICOL FREAKING BOLAS!!!

(Potatobrain) Grade: A
Ok. Everyone knows about Nicol Bolas the planeswalker. Everyone wants this guy. Everyone loves this guy. Honestly, he is pretty insane, and very cool to boot. So what's wrong with him? Well, the only flaw I can think of is that he costs 4UBBG and is a PLANESWALKER. The former means you'll need major mana accel and color fixing in three colors that don't really have them. The latter means that you'll have a hard time getting around hard casting him, because there are very few ways to get planeswalkers from your hand/library/graveyard into play (perhaps even none besides Jhoira of the Ghitu or a lucky Mind's Desire).

That being said, if you do get him into play, you win. Any questions? Good.

(AlasterEisaroh) Grade: A+
If you get this card into play and keep it in play, it is an absolute beast. Not only can you eat other planeswalkers with Nicol Bolas (among other things), you can steal any creature that may pose a threat to him. Lastly if you get enough Loyalty Counters for it you can just add insult to injury by blasting you opponent with Nicol Bolas' ultimate ability. Now if you don't win after that, you are either doing something wrong, or your opponent's field control is too much for Nicol Bolas to handle.

Well now, that about wraps up the Grixis shard. Shockingly enough, the undead did much better than anticipated, with a whopping four agreed upon A's, and an average score of B. But this is perhaps due to the fact that we are very nice and forgiving people that love multiplayer casual and hate tournament play.

The good news is, most of Grixis is great for multiplayer, with loads of reanimation, effects that affect everyone, and best of all, really dangerous tools that you can use to threaten other players (Nicol Bolas anyone?)!

All in all, a very exciting shard, and it's got us looking forward to the third installment in the Alara trilogy.

In the meantime, head on over to the forums and tell us what you think. Just remember, the undead are on our side, so watch what you say about Extractor Demon.

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A Fresh Perspective: Stasis - Part One.
The Apprentice Magician - Part Six.
Design on a Dime: The Lunch Meat Edition!
Fit the Flavor 2008 - FINALE!
The Games People Play - Market & EDH.
Sarpadian Empires, Vol VII: Foreword.
More Evil Than Evil.
Pauper Chronicles: Top O' the Morningtide to You!
Words from the Streetz: Uncommon and Common Magical Treasures.
The Writers Guild: The Inside Scoop.