Gold cards are nothing new for MTG, even if we have never been graced with an all-gold expansion before.  The ‘gimmick’ of Alara remains the use of tri-colored cards more so than simply gold cards.  Those tri-colored ’shards’ of the Alara spectrum have given us many of the best cards in the set.  However, like the idea of gold cards, tri-colored cards are nothing new.  In fact some examples of tri-color power popped up as early as 1994 with the infamous Legends expansion.  Being that my earliest playing days were not long after Legends, I have had the pleasure of playing with and against some of the more interesting and fun tri-colors in MTG history.

My very first dual colored deck was an ill-conceived swampwalk/counter deck that revolved around Sol’Kanar the Swamp King.  Not a great deck, mainly because I wasn’t too sure about how to balance my mana sources.  A major issue being the lack of any dual lands, and only one Castle Sengir.  If and when I did manage to succeed in dropping my opponent to zero life it was rarely due to Sol’Kanar.  Poor mana fixing would routinely make me pay six or even seven mana for my centerpiece.  By that time the game was already decided.  This had nothing to do with Sol’Kanar as a card, more it was my own poor planning and even poorer collection that led to his obsolescence.  (Ed note: If I were to make an ‘Elder Dragon Highlander’ deck it would most certainly revolve around Sol’Kanar.)  Legends included many monsterous tri-colored creatures, including some of the most famous cards ever printed.  Sol’Kanar is still my favorite and his legacy lives on through Grixis.

Not long after Legends, WotC released another block with multiple tri-colored cards.  The Ice Age/Alliances set brought one of the most abusable tri-colored cards ever played.  Merieke Ri Berit is not only hard to pronounce, but hard to stop once any number of combinations get going.  Not only can she be used to steal creatures, if she is untapped or otherwise removed the targeted creatures is destroyed.  Fantastic!  Originally I played her in a blue deck that splashed white/black and used Twiddle to repeat her ability, killing my opponent’s creatures with each use.  These days, with cards like Turn to Mist, Mistmeadow Witch, and Vedalken Mastermind I could turn her into an assassin! Like Sol’Kanar before her Merieke was returned from obscurity as a ‘Timeshifted’ card in Time Spiral.

Speaking of Time Spiral the block released its own set of Dragon Legends, inspired by the Invasion block Dragons.  Those had been inspired by the original Legends.  A major issue with the Time Spiral/Planar Chaos dragons is that they do not fall into any ’shard’ tri-color scheme.  The second major issue, a problem that encompasses all these dragons, relates to the abilities activated after you do combat damage to a player.   Maybe I am missing something, but if you’re already hitting opponents with a 6/6 flyer do you really need to pile on?  You know what, I don’t care.  Because my initial reaction is all Timmy: “Dragons!?  Hell yeah!”  Needless to say, I have found a home for these creatures in my casual decks.  Teneb the Harvester fits nicely with another tri-color nasty.  One from a more recent set.

Sometimes there are cards that force me to change.  To play outside my comfort zone.  This experience was exemplified by Doran, the Siege Tower.   Describing the abilities of this guy, and his uses in every format, would be folly.  We all know by now, after all Doran was the most famous creature in Lorwyn/Morningtide.  However, that Doran caused me to break my own strictly held policy of no tribal decks (especially three color tribal decks) .  Maybe it’s my rebellious side, but I don’t feel too special playing with a deck WotC made for me. (My biggest problem with recent sets, but that is another article entirely.)  Well, now I have a treefolk deck, and a giant deck, and toyed with kithkin and elf decks.  All of this was due to my initial reaction to Doran and his inspiring power.

It seems through MTG history, at least up until Alara, that cards with three colors had been reserved for creatures of legendary power.  One of the rare examples of tri-colored non-creature cards are the Planeshift charms.  Even these are obviously based on the dragon’s of their namesake.  Maybe that is my point.  Before now I always felt tri-colored cards were cool.  Something that would pop up every few sets.  An excuse to drool over some new and enticing creature.  Sure nothing about Doran is black, just as nothing about Sol’Kanar is blue, but the point is they were unique.  After 2009 it may be a long time before we look at any gold card as special again.  I for one think that is a shame.

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The idea of an expansion, indeed the majority of an entire block consisting of multicolored cards does not appeal to me personally.  I worship the color pie and often find myself longing for the days when a black deck was a black deck and a red deck was a red deck.  The irony here is that while I would consider this to be a completely logical position, in actuality my attitude is unmistakeably emotional.  Casual games with casual acquaintances dominate most of my play time and “rainbow decks” with expensive lands are the epitome of what I would consider to be “advanced magic”.  This is neither inherently good nor inherently bad.  I simply felt it necessary to disclose, up front, my preference for mono colored spells and would hope the reader would consider my remarks within that context.  Since ARB only offers multicolored cards my top 5 will therefore focus on the closest thing available in this set – Dual Colored cards.  Versatile and simple, cards that require only two different colors to play as opposed to 3 or 5 have caught my eye this time around.

5. Terminate – Removal is something many players take for granted.  Most would rather take their chances at countering big spells or wiping the board then waste their time trying to pick off individual creatures.  But for what its worth Terminate is quite possibly the best creature removal card in standard.  While Unmake and Path are great, giving red a chance to get rid of a big creature means much more to red than either of those aforementioned cards mean to their respective colors.  Killing any creature on the board for two with no drawback is bread and butter for anyone wanting to add a bit of removal to their deck.  With the addition of Cascade to the mix, this common becomes even more powerful as the exclamation point at the end of a 2 or 3 spell romp.

4. Dauntless Escort – Mark my words – Wrath of God will be featured in Magic 2010.  With this in mind, (trust me guys) a 3/3 for 3 that effectively counters a Wrath is an absolute godsend (yes, that was a pun).  Particularly in a green or white token aggro deck where a wipe probably means you’ve lost.  There are plenty of  other obvious scenarios where this guy is going to save the day.  As a general rule, a 3/3 for 3 with an awesome ability = cash money.  One argument against this card I’ve heard is that spot removal can take him out pre-wrath.  I find this line of thinking faulty.  Any creature can be taken out with Terminate or Path to Exile; that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective.  The fact is, you’re putting out a threat and forcing their hand.  Its always worth it.  For directly countering the most iconic, universally devastating card in Magic the Gathering, this card gets a spot on my list.

3. Lord of Extinction – A genuine Timmy card with real playability.  A rare breed indeed.  Pros go bonkers for “set it and forget it” cards and while it’s casting cost is a bit high, the rewards are impressive.  The obvious comparison is to Tarmogoyf. The difference between two mana and five is light-years.  Fortunately, I think most would agree that the benefits are worth it.  Cards that get better as the game goes on are very desirable.  Cards that scale to the game as it progresses are one in a million.  Sure, he can be countered, removed, bounced or otherwise gimped.  But the fact is – he’s cheap enough that he’s coming out for sure, and once he does your opponent has to deal with him.  You can make a case for Figure of Destiny or Tarmogoyf being more prudent, but I challenge you to name a more well rounded 5 drop in the entire game.  Due to the perfect mix of big baddie, and real professional playability, Lord of Extinction is my #3 pick in Alara Reborn.

2. Malestrom Pulse – If you’ve spent any time playing extended in MTGO, you’ll know that Echoing Truth is a staple in many decks.   Aggro token decks are as common as ever and both green and black could use some help fending them off.   Why play Vindicate when you can sweep with this baby?  Is your opponent smothering you with Oblivion Rings?  Too bad. Playing multiple Chrome Moxes?  Peace.  I also see this as another great card to come up during a cascade.  The only drawback here is the fact that it can only be played on your turn thus the element of surprise is somewhat lacking.  But even killing one target permanent for 3 is a decent deal (don’t pretend you didn’t used to play Vindicate way back when).   The potential of this card to wreak havoc on any type of deck is the key here.

1. Meddling Mage – Welcome back my friend.  Its been far too long.  I really hope WotC continues to re-release cards from previous sets if they fit the new context.  I think this is a great way to get new players interested as well as please long time fans.  It doesn’t hurt that I get to go back and use some of my old cards either.  We all long for a  Pithing Needle now and then but why not pay 1 more for a creature that can exclude entire cards as opposed to activated abilities?  I’m not going to waste your time going through the endless possibilities (Wrath, Cryptic Command, etc) but I will say this.  I love that this card requires skill to play.  You must anticipate your opponent’s deck as soon as turn two.  The potential for this card to seal the game that soon (particularly if you know what your opponent is playing) is remarkable.   Worst case scenario, you get a 2/2 for two on turn two.  There’s nothing more satisfying than a good hosing.  A fan favorite and a personal favorite.

Honorable mentions:

Zealous Persecution
Mind Funeral (tied for worst card name with Giant Ambush Beetle)
Sen Triplets
Qasali Pridemage

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Alara Reborn has nearly arrived.  The Shards are colliding, and we’re starting to get a sense of what that means for our current decks.  Simply put, its time for us to take a look at the our favorite cards from the final Alara expansion.  In rank order here are five cards I am most excited about playing from the Alara Reborn expansion, and my reasons why:

1. Maelstrom Pulse – This sorcery is such an amazing card it needs to be broken down in steps. First things first, Maelstrom Pulse will completely disrupt any token deck.  When your opponent lands Sarkhan Vol’s ultimate ability and floods the board with dragons the response is that easy.  Three mana, and only two different colors.  In fact, this is great removal against any creatures, because there are no qualifiers.  MP destroys anything, and if there happen to be two or more well that is just butter frosting.  Taking care of enchantments and artifacts with similar ease makes my head hurt.  It’s that good.  That is not including perhaps the greatest prey of Maelstrom Pulse: planeswalkers.  Oblivion Ring finally has competition in that arena.   Green/black have never been about control, but this card is good enough to build a deck around.  If it could be played at instant speed I would put this card in my all-time Top Five.

2. Spellbreaker Behemoth – There are few moments in MTG as devastating as tapping all your mana to play a game-changing creature only to have your opponent tap two mana and simply say “no”.  Spellbreaker Behemoth certainly solves that problem.  Making sure your big spells don’t die before they hit the board has been a priority for red/green as of late.  Guttural Response and Vexing Shusher are staple side-board cards.  However, those cards only bring one positive to the table.  In fact, Guttural Response actually loses you a card for simply protecting a spell in this scenario.  This is the second problem Spellbreaker Behemoth solves.  Look at that casting cost again, I mean look at it! You get a 5/5 with an amazing (if not specialized ability) for only four mana!  This fattie is downright incredible.  With the litany of “power 5 or greater” cards in Alara protecting/buffing this beast won’t be hard once he hits the table.  The king of Alara Reborn creatures.

3. Behemoth Sledge – Yes, I am aware that this card is a Loxodon Warhammer in sheep’s clothing.  Even the casting cost and the equip cost remain unchanged, if you convert the mana.  I don’t care.  If WotC decided to release the actual Loxodon Warhammer in Alara Reborn you would still see it on this list.  Both are simply great cards.  LW is widely regarded as the best non-Jitte equipment on this planet or any other.  Sure there is a stark lack of versatility attached to having a dual color casting cost.  And one less power may cost some unfortunate duelists a close game over the course of their day.  But this card is still Top Five material for at least two reasons.  First, adding two toughness probably outweighs the one point of power.  The original LW did nothing to protect it’s wearer.  Now your creature can swing for big damage, you’ll gain life and have the same guy around to do it again next turn.  Second, that shiny gold logo on the card has morphed into not-so-shiny silver.  Meaning more chances to pick this puppy up in booster packs.  I would call that a bonus. (Ed note: Loxodon Warhammer appeared as a uncommon in it’s original set Mirroden, but was upgraded to rare status for it’s release in 9th Edition.)

4. Nulltread Gargantuan – This past year has seen Woolly Thoctar run rampant over just about everything.  Unmatched in size and speed this Naya dweller became a staple of almost every aggro creature deck.  Well, now it has a match.  Nulltread Gargantuan  can be used in the same slot.  First turn Noble Hierarch, second turn Nulltread and third turn replay the Hierarch to attack with a 6/7.  You don’t lose much in card advantage, and if planned properly mana should be no problem.  Actually, you can make this drawback work in your favor by returning an Elvish Visionary, or Coiling Oracle to the top of your library to play again and again.  Back to Woolly Thocatar, the once king of three drop creatures.  It seems Nulltread was made as a response.  Normally five toughness would be perfectly acceptable at that cost, but given the extra toughness it can take a Thoctar’s mightiest blow and shrug it off while dealing more than enough damage to do in our Woolly nemesis.  My only question is now that a precedent has been set for three drops in Alara, what will WotC do to top them in Zendikar?  Will we see a 7/7 for three?  An 8/8?  Maybe a Masques level of watering down creature power.  Wait, who cares!?  Alara Reborn has a 5/6 for three mana!

5. Sen Triplets - The only mythic rare to grace my top five, and it’s an interesting one.  The power here is obvious.  Your main phase spells can’t be countered.  Creatures you control are safe from surprises during combat.  You can see your opponent’s hand and devise their strategy.  That is without the final line of rules text, the line that really turns this card into something special.  You can play cards from that player’s hand this turn.  Where do I start with this?  First of all, your hand just got that much bigger, and with three of the five colors you should be able to play something from your opponent’s hand.  Second, anything you play will be like forced discarding and create massive card advantage almost immediately.  As a stand alone, Sen Triplets gives me something I love, a must-deal-with creature.  But we want to maximize this precious resource and to do that we’ll need two Conflux rares: Exotic Orchard and Master Transmuter.  The Exotic Orchard sets us up nicely to use any cards of import we find in our opponent’s hand.  Cards that we wouldn’t be able to cast using standard Esper colors.  More importantly Master Transmuter, as she so often does, turns this card into a deadly threat.  Now we can land the Triplets during our opponent’s end of turn step and control their turn without giving them time to react.  Even if they have spot removal we can then use our Transmuter to protect the Triplets.  It won’t be long before our opponent realizes they are stuck and scoops.  Any card that mimics a cheaper and repeatable Mindslaver belongs in my Top Five.  Welcome Sen Triplets, enjoy your stay.

Check back this Monday for Reinhart’s Top 5.

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