Card of the Day - October, 2008 | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

By Wizards of the Coast

All Hallow's Eve – Legends rare. Happy Halloween! Here's a scaaaary tidbit that's been resurrected from the dead (by which we mean "March 2002", when it was already used as Card of the Day): "All Hallow's Eve is one of a very few cards to be printed with the wrong card type. It says "Sorcery," but has been officially errataed to "Enchantment" since it remains in play for two turns." It's since been made back into a Sorcery, thanks to the technology behind the Suspend mechanic!

Buried Alive – Weatherlight uncommon. In 1997, decks featuring Buried Alive and Ashen Ghoul were extremely powerful. Even Jon Finkel, piloting a Counterpost deck specifically designed to beat that strategy, lost at the United States Nationals to Brian Kibler's Buried Alive deck, thanks to Kibler's secret sideboard tech: Armageddon, which devastated Finkel's Thawing Glaciers-enhanced mana base.

Fallen Angel – Legends uncommon. After appearing in Legends and Chronicles, Fallen Angel was in every core set from Fifth to Eighth Edition. It had a shot at being in Tenth Edition, but the Selecting Tenth Edition vote went for Nantuko Husk instead.

Treachery – Urza's Destiny rare. At

, Treachery costs one more mana than Control Magic. For this extra cost, the reward is that you get to untap up to five lands, making the card free. Or better than free, if you have lands that tap for more than one mana. This turned out to be too good.

Battlegrace Angel – Shards of Alara rare. The small leaflike things surrounding the Battlegrace Angel are the sigils of Bant. They're also visible on Rhox War Monk.

Scourge Devil – Shards of Alara uncommon. Devils on Grixis are small, not that smart, and exceedingly sadistic. In order for the demons to rely on the devils' loyalty, a fresh supply of helpless victims is always necessary.

Blightning – Shards of Alara common. According to the flavor text of Blightning, the smell of smoldering brain matter is a rare treat. This, of course, makes perfect sense given the number of zombies on Grixis. Everyone knows that there's nothing zombies like better than some nice juicy brains!

Corpse Connoisseur – Shards of Alara uncommon. The Corpse Connoisseur is not just a corpse who is a connoisseur; he's also a connoisseur of corpses. Compare this to Fleshbag Marauder, who, as far as we know, does not maraud fleshbags.

Sedris the Traitor King – Shards of Alara mythic rare. Sedris was the last living ruler of Vithia, but sold his kingdom and his soul to the first demon lords. Now, he rules as a powerful lich over the land known as "Grixis"—Vithian for "Traitor".

Archdemon of Unx – Shards of Alara rare. "Unx" is the site of a deep hole in the crust of Grixis. It was once a grand stadium but now spawns only pain. And archdemons. And also skittering skeleton-things.

Yoked Plowbeast – Shards of Alara common. While the elves look on the gargantuans of Naya with awe, the humans are more down-to-earth. The Yoked Plowbeast exemplifies the humans' approach to these massive creatures.

Godtoucher – Shards of Alara common. Godtouchers are the most honored among the elves of Naya, because they are the ones who are actually in contact with the gargantuans the elves worship. The godtouchers convey the gargantuans' wishes to the other elves, who live according to these guidelines.

Tortoise Formation – Shards of Alara common. Tortoise Formation is another of those cards with a literal twist in its name. It's not only the classical Testudo—a favorite of the ancient Roman army—it's also made out of tortoises!

Viashino Skeleton – Shards of Alara common. Although the Viashino are no longer native to Grixis, their skeletons still remain from before the Sundering. This probably applies to the other shards too, but they're less likely to be digging around looking for skeletons to animate. It doesn't seem quite fair that a skeleton can get Skeletonized, does it?

Sharuum the Hegemon – Shards of Alara mythic rare. For Sharuum the Hegemon, being Legendary is not a drawback. Not only can two Sharuums create an infinite loop (when the second one comes into play, both are sent to the graveyard, then one can come back into play, potentially bringing back the other one), they can even be played if one's already in play on the other side of the table (again, since the "return an artifact to play" trigger" will still be there after both die).

Freyalise Supplicant – Ice Age uncommon. Freyalise was a planeswalker back in the Ice Age storyline, where she appeared in four card titles and twelve pieces of flavor text (11 in Ice Age and one in Alliances). Since then, she's also showed up in Coldsnap, Time Spiral Block, and even a few times in Invasion block.

Loxodon Warhammer – Ninth Edition rare. When it was originally printed in Mirrodin, Loxodon Warhammer was an uncommon. But when it was put into Ninth Edition, it was bumped to rare, largely because of its effect on drafts.

Raven Familiar – Urza's Legacy uncommon. The raven in the art of Raven Familiar is using magic granted to it by its master, a professor at Tolarian Academy. As the professor's eye glows with magic, that same glint appears in the raven's tiny eye.

Tyrranax – Fifth Dawn common. The Tyrranax is a large (10 feet tall and 25 feet high, according to the art description) beast that lives in the Tangle, the twisted forest from which the green sun burst forth at the end of Darksteel and launching the Fifth Dawn.

Moonhold – Eventide uncommon. The art for Moonhold shows time completely stopping. As the area inside the circle has magically frozen, a rip in reality has been created. Luckily for these goblins, things return to normal shortly. But what does "shortly" mean to the one inside the frozen time?

Iname as One – Saviors of Kamigawa rare. The two versions of Iname in Champions of Kamigawa are the incarnations of Iname, Life Aspect and Iname, Death Aspect. And what happens when That Which Brings Life and That Which Takes Life are combined? Well, pretty much both cards at once. Instead of paying

and

for two 4/4s that provide spirits from your library and graveyard, you pay

for an 8/8 that does it!

Rhys the Redeemed – Shadowmoor rare. Rhys wasn't "redeemed" in the normal sense, because this version of him never knew about Rhys the Exiled. Instead, we, the audience, got to see what he would have been like in a society built around mutual support.

Ertai the Corrupted – Planeshift rare. Ertai changed from his original Ertai, Wizard Adept form when he sacrificed himself to hold open an Erratic Portal to save the Weatherlight and its crew from Rath. The twisted, evil version of Ertai was eventually destroyed by Squee, Goblin Nabob by accident.

Posted in Feature on October 1, 2008

Card of the Day - October, 2008

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