Review of Lifesmith ** Card Might Be Good If You Have a Lot of Low Cost Artifact Cards.

Don’t read this cards ability incorrectly.  If you play an artifact spell, you may only use its ability once.  Still, if you cast three artifacts, which is highly probable if you have 30 or so artifacts in your Commander, you might want to consider this card.  Think of it this way, pay 5 (it’s casting cost plus using its ability 3 times), and gain 9 life.  Not exactly great, but not terrible either.  In the worst case scenario, you might draw this card late in the game, but as with a lot of low costing cards, the risk comes with the territory.

Review of Baloth Woodcrusher : *** Not a Card Worth Building a Deck Around, But Still Good

This card work s really well in several situations.  Because its ability only goes off when there is a land fall, if you have this card in your deck you will probably want to have 45-50 mana cards in your deck.   That is, by the sixth turn, you will probably not have any man in your hand  if you play a mana every turn.  By having 50 mana in your deck, there is a 50% chance of making Baloth Woodcrusher’s landfall ability go off.   If you only have like 33 lands, the chances that you will draw a land card is only one in three, such that it probably wouldn’t be useful to have this card if its ability goes off once every third turn.  This makes playing this card difficult.  However, when it’s ability does goes off, an 8/8 with trample is nothing to sneeze at.

Another  way that this card works well is if you have cards that make you put land into play.  For example, cards Primeval Titan, and/or Khalni Heart Expedition would help you play an additional 2 lands on your turn.  Just think, if you played three lands on a turn Baloth Woodcrusher becomes a 16/16 with trample.

Baloth Woodcrusher  especially works well if you have a lot of landfall cards in your deck.  For example, if you have Rampaging  Baloths in play, the land fall would cause Rampaging Baloths to make a 4/4 token, and Baloth Woodcrusher gains +4/+4  and trample.  Thus, one smart way to approach building a deck is to make it so that it has a scenario where playing a basic land causes several abilities to go off. 

Review of Garruk Wildspeaker *** Maybe I'm just grumpy.

My biggest complaint about Planeswalkers is that they are not easily defended. You would practically have to build your deck around defending this card, and in my opinion, that is not such a great idea. It should be noted, that though this cards casting cost is 4, you can do its +1 ability right away and untap 2 lands, and that these two lands can be any color, if you are playing a multicolor deck. This means, the actual casting cost of Garruk Wildspeaker is more like 2 mana. It’s -1 ability isn’t that great. A single 3/3 beast generally isn’t good for much, meaning that there really isn’t much difference between a 3/3 beast and a 1/1, as both are usually capable of blocking in the same way. In my opinion, a card has to have a power of 4 in order to be an attacker. Garruk Wildspeaker’s -4 ability is pretty cool though. If Garruk Wildspeaker is played, you will need a way to defend it or else your opponent can easily wipe it out. Thus, as a strategy, it would probably be a bad idea to have other cards with trample or that give trample in a deck along with Garruk Wildspeaker. That would be redundant and you wouldn’t be maximizing your deck. I’ll also add that I love the artwork on this card.

Review of Ant Queen *** I’d Be Disappointed If I Opened a Pack and Ant Queen Was the Rare.

Paying a casting cost of 5 mana to get a 5/5 is just okay. That is, if it is on the ground and the casting cost is less than or equal to the sum of its power and toughness, then it should have a pretty cool ability, especially if it is a green card. So, let’s look at the ability of paying 2 mana in order to get a 1/1 green insect. As, with the case of Druidic Satchel and getting a Saproling for 2 mana, the cost is just too much. If it cost 1 mana to put out an insect token then that would be a different story. And, expecting to pay 1 for a 1/1 is not unreasonable. There are cards that you can do that with.

Review of Emperor Crocodile *** 4 Mana for a 5/5 Is Good.

Review of Emperor Crocodile *** 4 Mana for a 5/5 Is Good.

Paying 4 mana to get a 5/5 is pretty cool. I wouldn’t worry about its ability. I probably wouldn’t put it in a deck unless there is a crocodile scenario. I don’t have enough crocodiles to do that. Additionally, last I knew crocodile creature cards are not that common. Most series don’t have even 1. My guess is that if you searched hard enough, you could find some other crocodiles from earlier sets. However, my guess is that you may run into some limited availability issues trying to do that

Review of Star Compass **** Great for Multicolor Decks!

To pay 2 mana, especially colorless mana, in order to get 1 mana, as an activated ability is a good deal. But, that this card is an artifact is an added advantage. That is, in my opinion is more difficult to remove an artifact from the board, than say an elf creature. Most mana accelerators are elves, and they don’t have much toughness, so they are easily dealt with. Elves also require green mana, which can be more difficult if you are playing a 5 color deck, for example. Since given certain circumstances that this card can tap as any color is another reason it is great. A card like this is best combined with a multicolor deck that has a card that can untap it. That way, it can be used twice on the same turn. What makes this card fun is that it can be worked into multicolor deck very easily.

Review of Druidic Satchel ** I wouldn’t Put I In Your Best Deck.

A lot of people think this card is pretty cool, but I don’t. You pay three to caste it. Then, you pay another 2 on gamble. Only one of these gambles is a good scenario. That is if you get a basic land. However, consider this, if you pay 3 to caste it, and then 2 to use it’s a ability, what you have really done is paid 5 on a gamble! Paying 5 mana to get one land is way too much. And, my guess is that you will have 50 or less mana in your deck, such that really there is only a 50% chance of the optimal scenario occurring. However, if you wind up with a 1/1 Saproling, that is 1 more mana that you ought to pay for it. A 1/1 without any other abilities should cost 1 mana, not even factoring in its casting cost. The other ability gaining two life probably isn’t going to win you any games.

Look at it this way. You will probably only use this cards ability three times, and figure that it will give you a 1/1 Saproling, 2 life, and a basic land the three times it is used. Totaling up the mana you will have spent to do this, that’s 3+2+2+2 or 9 mana! In order for this card to be worth it, a land is worth paying 2 mana for, a Saproling is worth paying 1 mana for and a gaining to life is worth paying 1 for. This is 2+1+1, or 4. So really, with Saproling, you have spent 9 mana to get a value of 4 mana. However, because once Saproling is caste, it stays on the field, that is worth and extra 2 mana. For example, on your turn if you have 2 mana leftover, you could use Druidic Satchels ability. So adding 2 to 4 still doesn’t get this card up to 9. Thus, I don’t see it as that great of a card.

If you do put it in a deck, then you will probably want it to be green and white. So, I especially don’t recommend it for a monocolor deck, but it could have benefits in a Saproling, and life gaining scenario.

Review of Momentous Fall ** Has excellent educational value!

If you want to gain life, green is probably not the best color to do it with. There are some defender cards that have a toughness of 8, which could work with Momentous Fall. However, in order to get a creature with a toughness of 8, you have to factor that into the cost of casting this card. That is, it is most likely that you will pay 8 or so mana to gain 8 life. One possible scenario for Momentous Fall would be to set up your deck so that sacrificing a creature does multiple things, or that something happens once it is put into the graveyard. I’ll also add that the artwork for this one is lame too. However, as a Magic The Gathering player, I am not in it to collect the artwork although I do think it is wonderful that Magic The Gathering employs many artists.

Review of Kalonian Behemoth ** What a Waste of a Rare!

I can totally see how this card may seem attractive at first. I mean, do the math pay 7 mana get a 9/9. It’s simple addition, but you probably forgot that a 9/9 can be blocked by a 1/1. And, usually you don’t get a creature with greater power and toughness than the casting cost. In fact, thinking of it that way is too easy, as in this case Kalonian Behemoth, its shroud ability hurts it rather than helps it. This card needs to be made to have trample, or to be unblockable, and its shroud ability prevents you from doing that. I wouldn’t throw it out if you have one though, as the redemption of the value of this card is that if you use it as a defender, it is very powerful. So, if you do cast it, then I would use it as a defender only. However, really to me that this card is a 9/9 to me almost means that it annihilates creature every turn, provided that the opponent doesn’t have something like deathtouch.

Review of Cudgel Troll *** Regeneration Is a Great Feature.

Cudgel is a 4/3, and it costs 4 to cast, so to me this means it had better have a really good ability, and it does. Cudgel Troll can be used as an attacker or blocker. A power of 4 is my minimum for considering a card an attacker. For blockers I often use tokens, and in that way, it may be best to consider Cudgel Troll as a token generator where you only have to pay G to regenerate it as a token. So, if you use its regeneration ability even once that is( 4*2+3*2)/2 = 7, using my vague formula where (power+toughness)/2>casting cost = a good card. Thus, in my way of thinking this card is worth nearly double what its casting cost is, where with this card 8 would be double. Think of it this way, every time you regenerate Cudgel Troll, it is as if you paid a single G to get a 4/3. That is exceptionally cost effective. Lastly, if there is any color that is going to have a spare mana for something like regeneration, it is a green deck. Thus, since Cudgel Troll is green, it goes well with deck that has primarily green mana. I would have rated this card higher if it had reach.

Genesis Wave *** Fools Gold! But, good educational value

1. Genesis Wave *** Fools Gold! Educational Value 5

The only scenario where I can see this card being any good is if you have a ton of mana. 8 mana probably won’t cut it. The best part about this card is its educational value. I’d give it one star overall, if it was just about the play of the card, but in this case, Genesis Wave makes you do a little math in order to figure out if it is worth using. It took me a bit of math, and probability to figure it, and even if you 8 mana when you cast this card, it will probably disappoint you. Don’t worry though if you were fooled. I was fooled too! That was until I played a few games and found that this card isn’t really good. Just to verify, I pulled out my pen and paper and found that Genesis Wave isn’t a very good card.

Review of StrikeZoneOnline.com ***** Fast pitch!

The card was in great condition. The price was right. The best part though is that they had a card that starcitygames.com didn’t have. I like to be a loyal customer, but when the good aren’t available from the usual sources, it’s time to look somewhere else, and that is where StrizeZone delivered. My order wasn’t very big, so they certainly didn’t make much profit off of the transaction, but they took the time to work fast and get me the card. They must be in it for the love of the game! Next time I order a card on Amazon, StrikeZone will be my first choice.

Review of Iwamori of the Open Fist ** Why did I buy this card?

Is made a reading mistake when I bought this card. I thought it read “put a legendary creature into play,” as in I get to put a legendary creature card into play. However, it is actually “Each opponent may put a legendary creature card in into play.” I, myself, would not get to put an extra legendary creature into play unless some ability said otherwise. Though most players probably wouldn’t have a legendary creature to put into the game, why risk it? Iwamori is not a good enough card to take that kind of risk with. Though it is a 5/5 with trample that only costs 4 mana, which is actually kind of swell, this card is not that great because of its other ability. Also, it doesn’t make a good Commander card because it is easily removed to the graveyard, and needs beefing to do any real damage.

Review of Ayumi, the Last Visitor ** A Mediocre Heavy Hitter With a Nearly Worthless Ability

Ayumi is a 7/3. That makes it a heavy hitter as far as I am concerned. Usually, a good formula for green heavy hitters is that the casting cost should at least be equal to (power/toughness)/2. That would be (7+3)/2=5 . In this case the casting cost of 5 is equal to the power and toughness divided by 2. So, actually it isn’t a very cost effective heavy hitter as far as green is concerned. It is also worthy to not that the better heavy hitters, generally have a toughness of 4 or better. 3 just isn’t enough. That is, I’d rather a 6/4 than a7/3.

Next, let’s look at its ability, “Legendry landwalk.” I am not very experienced at MTG. However, I am one smart dude, which I believes helps qualify me to review this card, and in my opinion legendary lands aren’t common enough to make this ability a good one.

Review of Starcitygames.com ***** A Great Place to Buy MTG Cards

I am ever grateful to Star City. I have used their website countless times. I challenge you to find a typographical error on Star City’s website. You probably won’t! The search engine provides accurate results, and Star City is a great place to work on building a deck. And, though this search engine and the information on it is free, I urge to not to accept it as a free gift. A good rule in life is to always make an effort to return a favor if you can. As the old saying goes, users are losers! The prices are reasonable. The service is great. They are not a scam.

I am in favor of supporting local businesses, and Star City is not local, but they provide a free service so in my opinion, if the local store, Game Nite, is all out of a certain product, then I look to Star City. If Star City doesn’t have it, I look to Amazon.com.

To top it off, the last time I bought from them, they sent me 4 free tokens. I think it is totally cool to have tokens from Star City. So, I am joyfully returning the favor by including the tokens in my decks, writing this in my review, and I’ll probably end up telling a few people in person. I hope it increases their business. I am already using 2 of the tokens. One is of a white 1/1 Soldier, another is of a green 2/2 Wolf. Thanks!

Review of Baloth Woodcrusher : *** Not a Card Worth Building a Deck Around, But Still Good

This card work s really well in several situations. Because its ability only goes off when there is a land fall, if you have this card in your deck you will probably want to have 45-50 mana cards in your deck. That is, by the sixth turn, you will probably not have any man in your hand if you play a mana every turn. By having 50 mana in your deck, there is a 50% chance of making Baloth Woodcrusher’s landfall ability go off. If you only have like 33 lands, the chances that you will draw a land card is only one in three, such that it probably wouldn’t be useful to have this card if its ability goes off once every third turn. This makes playing this card difficult. However, when it’s ability does goes off, an 8/8 with trample is nothing to sneeze at.
Another way that this card works well is if you have cards that make you put land into play. For example, cards Primeval Titan, and/or Khalni Heart Expedition would help you play an additional 2 lands on your turn. Just think, if you played three lands on a turn Baloth Woodcrusher becomes a 16/16 with trample.
Baloth Woodcrusher especially works well if you have a lot of landfall cards in your deck. For example, if you have Rampaging Baloths in play, the land fall would cause Rampaging Baloths to make a 4/4 token, and Baloth Woodcrusher gains +4/+4 and trample. Thus, one smart way to approach building a deck is to make it so that it has a scenario where playing a basic land causes several abilities to go off.

Review of Farhaven Elf: ** Okay As 1. An Extra Elf 2. Mana Accelerator 3. Multiple Landfalls

This card really isn’t that great. Three mana is a lot to pay for its ability. Generally, if you cast a 3 mana spell, you should expect to get 2 or more mana in return, each turn, and in the case of Farhaven Elf it is only certain that you will get one extra mana each turn.
I took it out of my deck. It does have some redeeming value though. It is both an Elf and it allows you to search your library for a basic land and put it into play tapped. And, having an Elf scenario is a good idea, especially if you are playing a mono green deck. This card works well in decks that have Landfall cards. If two or more lands fall on a turn, the Landfall ability normally goes off more than once. This card is good for use in a multicolor deck. It is also a druid, and I don’t have any cards that work well with druids. However, in my opinion Elves and Druids are primarily for early to mid-game play, so if you have Elves in your deck, it probably doesn’t make sense to have Druids, and if you have Druids in your deck it probably doesn’t make sense to have Elves.

Review of Argothian Elder: **** Excellent If Used in an Elves Mana Acceleration Scenario

Review of Argothian Elder: **** Excellent If Used in an Elves Mana Acceleration Scenario

In my opinion the one of the best parts about having a mono green deck is that green is awesome at mana acceleration . By turn five, I am usually able to play cards that cost 10 mana, game winning cards, because of cards like Argothian Elder. If you can get something that can untap or beef it because it is an Elf in even better! This card goes really well with cards like Copperhorn Scout, Joraga Treespeaker or Elvish Archdruid. And, it is much better than the card, Farhaven Elf, that I am switching it in for.

I have 21 Elves in my commander deck, and I think that is a good number. These elves are used primarily for the purpose of mana acceleration. Even on the first turn of the game my mana acceleration is kicking in. This enables me to play enormous monstrosities later in the game. When I refer to monstrosities, I am referring to cards would not normally be able to be played until later in the game, or at all.

Also, the card Argothian Elder may go up in value as it becomes increasingly hard to get one. For example, starcitygames.com didn’t have one when I looked. When Star City doesn’t have one, then I can be assured that the local probably won’t have one either. I didn’t find many at amazon.com. This makes it so one has to look for it in obscure places on the internet, so if you really want this card, beware of scamers