Card of the Day - March, 2009 | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

By Wizards of the Coast

Tomb of Urami – Saviors of Kamigawa rare. The Tomb of Urami is the long-sealed resting place of (naturally enough) the demon Urami. When he bursts free, he lays waste not only to the enemy, but also all the land around him. Wondering what he looks like? The token art was commissioned for Magic Online, so here it is!

Reliquary Tower – Conflux uncommon. Through Conflux development, this was the slot reserved for versions of "Barry's Land" (which would count as a new type of Basic Land for Domain purposes). As you can see from the final card, none of the proposed solutions were accepted.

Stangg – Legends rare. Originally, The Stangg Twin token's creature type was just "Stangg-Twin", while Stangg's was "Legend". The rules for creature types have been cleaned up a bit since then, so now putting Stangg into play results in two Legendary creatures, both of them Human Warriors.

Tattermunge Duo – Shadowmoor common. It's a little hard to make out at card size, but the art for Tattermunge Duo features a boggart shaman sitting on the shoulders of a larger boggart warrior. They're working together to fight something that's just offscreen.

Clone – Onslaught rare. When Onslaught was being planned, several members of R&D wanted to put Clone in, but it was on the Reserved List. But they really wanted to put it in. So Randy Buehler ran a poll in his March 1, 2002 Latest Developments column essentially asking his readers if the policy should be changed. And that's why Latest Developments always includes a poll!

Brothers Yamazaki – Champions of Kamigawa uncommon. Curious about the story behing the Brothers Yamazaki? Read the legend behind the legend(s) right here, written by Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar.

Dandân – Arabian Nights common. According to Richard Garfield, "The dandân was a fantastic fish that, if memory serves--and it certainly doesn't; it rules--was as big as a man but could be killed by a clap of your hands. Hence, Dandân is a 4/1 creature."

Fork – Limited Edition Alpha rare. As with many Alpha cards, Fork has an odd quirk: instead of making an exact copy of a spell, it retains Fork's color. And it doesn't have to stay red; if you Purelace your Fork, it makes a white copy of a spell!

Auntie's Hovel – Lorwyn rare. The tree in the art for Auntie's Hovel is the same tree seen in Shadowmoor's Fire-Lit Thicket. And here's something unusual about this situation: the cards were painted by two different artists!

Goblin Bowling Team – Unglued common. The Goblin Bowling Team is based on the actual (at the time) Wizards of the Coast Bowling Team: Charlie Catino, Bill Rose, Paul Randles, Beverly Marshall Saling, and Darla Kennerud.

Furious Assault – Mercadian Masques common. The figures in the art for Furious Assault are Merfolk, even though they have legs. Although Merfolk exist on many planes, only the Saprazzans can grow legs and become bipedal.

Magister Sphinx – Conflux rare. During playtesting, Magister Sphinx was named "Two-Punch Steve." You can probably figure out why.

Monkey Monkey Monkey – Unhinged common. Monkey Monkey Monkey was originally named "Monkey Monkey Monkey Monkey," but that was too long to fit. So one of the monkeys got cut, leaving the card with 25% less monkey.

Ivory Crane Netsuke – Saviors of Kamigawa uncommon. A "netsuke" is a miniature sculpture. So the art for Ivory Crane Netsuke, which shows a miniature crane carved out of ivory, is precisely on point.

Snake Basket – Visions rare. If you want as many snakes as possible as quickly as possible, Snake Basket is probably the number one option. On a snake-to-snake basis, it blows Orochi Hatchery out of the water!

Stalking Tiger – Tenth Edition common. Stalking Tiger is probably more famous as a Magic Online avatar than as a card. It also got some prominence in 2001-2002 as part of the Pro Tour Team Name "Stalking Tiger, Hidden Gibbon" (Josh Ravitz, Matt Urban, and Paul Jordan).

Mantis Engine – Tenth Edition uncommon. The Tenth Edition printing of Mantis Engine has flavor text spoken by Jhoira. But you'll only see it on the foil version, because Tenth Edition foils made room for flavor text by eliminating reminder text!

Pang Tong, "Young Phoenix" – Portal Three Kingdoms rare. Portal Three Kingdoms contains two of the only three Magic cards to have quotation marks in the name: Pang Tong, "Young Phoenix" and Kongming, "Sleeping Dragon" The other one is "Ach, Hans! Run!".

Wall of Ice – Limited Edition Alpha uncommon. As time went on, it became increasingly clear that a card named "Wall of Ice" had no business being a green card. So it was no surprise that Ice Age featured a blue card called "Glacial Wall", which promptly entered Fifth Edition as the resident three-casting-cost 0/7 Wall.

Clockwork Beast – Limited Edition Alpha rare. In the Masters Edition Oracle Update, Clockwork Beast got a correction to its (complicated) wording. That update was applied to the Clockwork Steed and Clockwork Swarm in the Lorwyn Update and to Clockwork Avian in the Shadowmoor Update.

Putrid Cyclops – Future Sight common. It would take more space than we have here to describe all the early versions that Putrid Cyclops went through before it was printed, so we'll just direct you to Mark Rosewater's article from Scry Week.

Avenging Angel – Tempest rare. Avenging Angel's ability has been both black and white in the past. The difference? When it's on a white creature, you get a cool angel with a sword. In black, you get Aphetto Vulture

Posted in Feature on March 2, 2009

Card of the Day - March, 2009

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