Card of the Day - October, 2010 | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

By Wizards of the Coast

Pentagram of the Ages – Ice Age rare. Many cards from Ice Age and Alliances feature Arcum Dagsson (the Soldevi Machinist) and Sorine Relicbane (the Soldevi Heretic) squabbling over whether artifacts are good or bad for society. In the case of Pentagram of the Ages, Dagsson is probably correct; it's hard to imagine it destroying their civilization.

Su-Chi – Masters Edition rare. Su-Chi is a 4/4 for

that provides four mana when it dies. Its name came from the word for "four" in two different languages.

Three Wishes – Visions rare. Three Wishes is unusual in that it explicitly allows its controller to look at face-down cards in the Exile zone. This used to come up when there was also a Mindslaver and a nonblack Wish, but now that the Wishes don't take cards from the Exile zone, it's harder to come up with an application for this rules quirk.

Two-Headed Giant of Foriys – Unlimited Edition rare. Early Magic card names had the occasional hidden pun. This is one that you might not notice unless you know that "Foriys" is supposed to be pronounced "Four-Eyes."

One With Nature – Scourge uncommon. One With Nature is one of those cards that encourages people to combine it with other cards and abilities. Double Strike! Landfall! And so on!

Platinum Angel – Tenth Edition rare. Platinum Angel nearly missed its chance to be in the core set. For Tenth Edition, there was a public vote on whether Worship or Platinum Angel would get to be in. The angel won and it's been in every core set since. Worship? It hasn't been seen since Ninth Edition.

Blacker Lotus – Unglued rare. Blacker Lotus and Chaos Confetti are the only cards that require their own destruction. This means that Blacker Lotus is presumably the rarest Unglued card! Chaos Confetti just gets to be "the rarest common," which isn't nearly as interesting.

Yawgmoth Demon – Ninth Edition rare. The symbol of Phyrexia is not new to Magic. It can even be seen in Yawgmoth Demon's staff!

Time Vault – Unlimited Edition rare. Time Vault is one of those cards that has gone through a lot of different Oracle wordings. The current version goes back to the original wording, which allows for Twiddle shenanigans.

Mox Opal – Scars of Mirrodin mythic rare. In the real world, opals come in a wide variety of colors, including white, blue, black, red, and green. These variations in reflected color account for Mox Opal's ability to create any kind of mana.

Black Carriage – Homelands rare. On the discussion page for Black Carriage, ainsi_la_nuit says: "Thank you, Grand Creature Type Update, for allowing me to write that WOTC really put the carriage before the horse on this card." Nice work!

Blue Elemental Blast – Fourth Edition common. The difference between Blue Elemental Blast and Hydroblast is that Hydroblast can target spells and permanents of any color, although it will only affect them if they're red when it resolves. Or if Hydroblast has has the word "red" changed by Sleight of Mind after it was cast.

Red-Hot Hottie – Unhinged common. If you want to play a deck with real burn potential, combine Red-Hot Hottie with Obsidian Fireheart so you can spread blaze counters and third-degree-burn counters all over your opponents' creatures and land.

Bringer of the Green Dawn – Fifth Dawn rare. When we first saw Mirrodin (in Mirrodin), there were only four suns. It took the entire block's storyline to result in the green sun appearing in the sky!

Whitesun's Passage – Scars of Mirrodin common. "Whitesun" is a holy day for the Leonin of Mirrodin, when they celebrate the day when the white sun shines directly over Taj-Nar, beaming its light all the way down into the Cave of Light.

Carrion Call – Scars of Mirrodin uncommon. If you look closely at the art for Carrion Call, you'll see that the Phyrexian beetles are feeding off a dead wolf from Mirrodin. It might even be a Tel-Jilad Wolf!

Etched Champion – Scars of Mirrodin rare. It will come as no surprise that Etched Champion represents a descendant of Fifth Dawn's Etched Oracle. It helps that Matt Cavotta was able to reference his art from six years earlier!

Precursor Golem – Scars of Mirrodin rare. Mirrodin was created by Karn, the silver golem built by Urza. The plane was originally populated by golems that Karn created in his own image and left behind as he explored the Multiverse.

Memnite – Scars of Mirrodin uncommon. Memnite is the first pure 1/1 creature for

in the history of Magic. Is it safe? Well, Ornithopter was a 0/2 flier for

, and Dryad Arbor was a 1/1 that used up a land drop. So ... probably?

Golem Foundry – Scars of Mirrodin common. When we showed the Scars of Mirrodin tokens in this Arcana, we claimed that the Golem token came from Precursor Golem. Clearly, though, that token came out of the Golem Foundry.

Platinum Emperion – Scars of Mirrodin mythic rare. From the Scars of Mirrodin FAQ: "Abilities that trigger whenever damage is dealt to you will still trigger because that damage is still dealt, even though your life total doesn't change as a result."

Posted in Feature on October 1, 2010

Card of the Day - October, 2010

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