Spirit of the Labyrinth - Magic the Gathering

A minotaur used to live here, but he moved out.

Name: Spirit of the Labyrinth. Anything with the word labyrinth in it automatically makes it more awesome. A quick aside: When is a maze a labyrinth? A labyrinth has a definite center, the path in and out of it taking you through the center before coming out the other end. Also unlike mazes, most labyrinths had only one set path, as opposed to multiple branching paths. In general speech though, it's okay to use the two interchangeably, since only antiquity scholars and conservative grammar users will complain.

Art: The story of the labyrinth has been told countless times that it becomes interesting how different adaptations interpret it. In God of War III, the labyrinth is suspended in gigantic boxes. The player first has to risk life and limb to assemble the boxes together before they can enter it and reach the person dwelling in the center. Here we have a massive stone throne, the labyrinth actually curving through it and the rest of the interior. The spirit is also nicely done, the wispy hair, white skin, and what seems to be pupiless eyes.

Flavor: A labyrinth is a very abstract idea to convey mechanically. The ability seems to have the general feeling while not nailing down any specifics. The main reaction to the ability is that something you normally could do you can't do any more. Your options are being restricted. That fits the flavor of a labyrinth, with the disorientation along with its original intent as a prison for the minotaur. Speaking of which, why isn't the creature in the labyrinth a minotaur? The minotaur is the most famous denizen of the labyrinth, yet the card drops the ball in terms of expectation. My theory is that they couldn't get the minotaur to match with the labyrinth's ability. The effect feels more white/blue, while minotaurs in this plane are red/black. I feel like maybe they could have splurged a little, making the card have creatures come into play tapped, an ability that has appeared in red and has the whole disorienting feeling. But maybe that card isn't want the format needed. The flavor text has me a little baffled. This spirit is some sort of teacher? Okay, why is it in a labyrinth and what is it supposed to teach?

Demographic: It's a small creature with an effect that hoses certain ability. When a card hoses, odds are it was meant for Spike. It's size also makes it fit neatly into a curve, making it an option open for multiple tournament decks. That said, I think the card also finds a home in multiplayer, being an effect that affects everyone at the table.

Hero of Leina Tower - Magic the Gathering

She's tougher than she looks.

Currently doing random cards from Born of the Gods, using a random generator to pick a number from 1-165 and doing whatever it lands on.

Name: Hero of Leina Tower. Hero is spot on, this card sporting the heroic mechanic and all. My only complaint is the Leina Tower bit. There is no bloody tower in the artwork. Admittedly, adding tower to the province name is much more impressive than saying Hero of Leina, plus the word gives the impression of something you build up into something massive. I just would have preferred if there was some sort of art cue, then again though the name and the art probably weren't decided at the same time.

Art: Despite being towerless, the art is actually pretty good. Composition wise, you have a strong heroic figure in the foreground, with a huge, hulking beast lying dead in the background. The viewer is able to fill in the gaps, creating a little narrative. This gets across both the small size of the figure, compared to the beast in back, along with the potential power of it.

Flavor: Heroic is a very difficult mechanic to show and explain flavor wise. The flavor text on this card though captures the feeling perfectly. Your creature is only potentially great. You still need that extra card in order to bring that strength to fruition. The text nicely ties the mechanic to the flavor.

Aesthetic: To be honest, this is not a very exciting rare to me. Why? Pay X. Having a mechanic that triggers an effect can be awesome, such as landfall. Having a mechanic that triggers a payment you can or can not pay to get the effect feels much less so. I'm certain the card is more powerful than she looks, that being the whole flavor of the card, but it doesn't get me as excited as automatically giving a +1/+1 counter would. This card is more about making you think how to make it work, as opposed to something that automatically comes across as sexy. In terms of player psyches, my guess would be Johnny.

Heroes' Podium - Magic the Gathering

Heroes from Theros gather for some D&D.

Name. Heroes' Podium. It's alright, the main part I like is the heroes bit, since the word emphasizes that the card works with legendary creatures. Podium feels a little off though, which I'll get to. Also, while the name is fine for a normal card, this thing is legendary. Legendary objects are special and one of a kind, meaning there are usually some fancy names attached to them to make them feel localized. Here though it's just a podium for heroes.

Art. Gorgeous as always. We have a classic structure with columns stretching to the back, and we can even make out a picture on the back wall. We also have visual cues and cameos with Anthousa to the left and Anax and Cymede to the right. The podium is... interesting. It has several animal motifs going, but what confuses me is what looks like a holographic image of a mountain over the tabletop. Not a standard feature of any podium I remember. Yes, I know its Magic, but what is it's purpose? Podium has several definitions, some meaning the raised platform that makes up the floor of the temple, while others serve as stands for public speaking. Nowhere is there mention of platforms used to display maps or make battle plans.

Flavor. The card is essentially a hall of heroes, a place where heroes get together and put their combined strength together to make plans, negotiate, and solve problems. This it hits perfectly with the first ability. The odd thing though is that this concept feels like it wants to be a land card, not an artifact. Your heroes are gathering at a place, not gathering around a singular object. However, it being a land would make it too powerful, since Magic has yet to work out lands with mana costs without making it feel clunky. And the second ability feels completely off, essentially filtering your deck for more heroes. Mechanically it makes sense and it goes nicely with the first ability, but flavor wise I have no idea why the object does that? Does the podium have some mystical scrying pool the heroes use to search for other heroes to join them? Again, that is not what a podium does. You can't even argue the second ability is an invitation to the other heroes, since the effect has to actually find heroes first before it can add them to your hand.

Aesthetic. It's a build-around-me card for legendary creatures. For some players, this will be awesome, since playing with legends is awesome and this card makes them more awesome. For other players though, particularly those who survived through Kamigawa, this may leave a bit of a sour taste in their mouths.

Nyxborn Shieldmate - Magic the Gathering

He's entering another dimension.

Okay, today I am going to attempt to actually rate a card regardless of the game its from or how it plays. I'll probably still go off on rants and useless trivia, but at least these things should become a bit more structured, I hope.

Name. Nyxborn Shieldmate. The name is alright. Nyxborn is combining a real word with a made up one, nyx referring to the place of the gods and dreams on Theros. Shieldmate has been used before in Magic, most recently with Elgaud Shieldmate from Avacyn Restored. It's meant not to just convey a guy holding a shield, but also a creature that interacts with other creatures. Elgaud bonded with them. Nyxborn bestows them.

Art. The art of the nyx is always gorgeous, space being filled with a sky full of stars and colors. The art here goes the extra mile. If you look at the background, you'll notice its a wall covered with a mosaic. The figure in the art is actually coming out of this mosaic. If you look at his left arm and leg, this detail becomes even more clear. The picture is literally art coming to life.

Flavor. Bestow is always a flavorful mechanic, one that is very pleasing because of its symmetry. Though I am confused about how this creature enchants another. Does just its shield come off the wall, or does the enchanted creature have the soldier's image painted on them, and it comes to life when they die. The text in italics confuses me a bit. It is referring to walls, nodding to the fact that the creature is essentially a wall painting, and it references the two of the main cities, contrasting them to give them an identity. But why is the text on this card. Other than the creature is popping out of a wall, there is little to no connection. Why not something along the lines of Art imitating life.

Aesthetic: Its a wall painting that you bring to life. Pretty cool to me.

Pharagax Giant - Magic the Gathering

The gods have more aggressive donation campaigns.

Time to shamelessly increase my page view count by talking about a set everyone is talking about, MTG's Born of the Gods. Today's card I want to use to soapbox about one of the new set mechanics: Tribute. Tribute is a nicely flavored mechanic, particularly for Greek mythology. When you play the creature, you choose an opponent, and they either pay homage to your creature or feel it's wrath. In this case, you either get a 5/5 for 5, or a 3/3 that deals 5 damage to all opponents for 5.

This mechanic has one major flaw in my opinion; The player is not in control of the card. Instead, the opponent chooses what it does. There are a lot of random random cards in Magic, cards that operate by luck and/or chance. These mechanics tended to backfire, since players like certainty. They like knowing exactly what the card is going to do. They are willing to make some concessions, like with decks and card drawing, but losing a game because you lost a coin flip is a very bad feeling. There's an extra wrinkle with the tribute mechanic. Since your opponent is picking the effect, in a game of two-player Magic, you are guaranteed to get whichever is the worse effect. It will never do what you really want it to do. Compare this to kicker, or a choose one choice card. In both of these, you are the one who gets to make the decision, resulting in an overall more positive experience.

As much as I have been trashing tribute though, there is one format where the mechanic truly shines: multiplayer. Magic multiplayer is often a game of diplomacy. Players often do favors for one another, trying to form alliances. Tribute is a good diplomacy mechanic. You can do favors for one opponent, and in return that player can choose which part of the tribute to activate. The fact that Pharagax Giant's one effect deals damage to each opponent, this really hammers home for me the desire for tribute cards to be used in multiplayer. In formats like limited or standard though, the mechanic feels a bit flat. And this is what they replaced monstrous with. I think tribute would have worked better as a Commander mechanic as opposed to a main set one.

To close up, back to the actual card, the art is really effective. It is drawn from a perspective where you are looking upwards, making the giant seem even more towering. Oh, and pray for the man who is closest to the giant, not because he might get trampled, but because he might get a very disturbing view of what's under those loins.