Five With Flores

A quick review on Conflux rare, Knight of the Reliquary.

Aesthetics:

My friend Luis Neiman (aka Luis Not Vargas) asked me last week what I thought of this card, but I hadn’t seen it yet. He described it as a 2/2 for three mana (which it is); to which I said, unexciting. Then he explained how Knight of the Reliquary is basically a progressive Tarmogoyf (or Countryside Crusher) while fixing mana, thinning out lands, or even drawing extra cards!

Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. You can only sacrifice a Forest or Plains, but you can get any kind of land you want. So for instance in Extended you can get a Flagstones of Trokair and then another Flagstones of Trokair and they can kill one another, netting you both more lands, and more lands in the graveyard.
2. You can tutor up specialty lands, such as Academy Ruins, Ghost Quarters, Riptide Laboratories, or even Urza’s parts (though I have doubts about those in any deck that would be willing to play a 2/2 like this one)
3. Knight of the Reliquary hasn’t got vigilance; so if you want to play searcher, you are either playing defense or simply forgoing your Red Zone rights. It’s not just a free giant monster on the cheap; on the other hand…
4. In a format like Extended, you might have a gaggle of lands in the graveyard anyway, charging up Knight of the Reliquary from the get-go.

Where do I see this fitting in?

This card can go in a couple of places. First of all, it can be incorporated into any creature deck that can play it. It’s just a good card. Worst case scenario, it should be a serviceable Gnarled Mass, that is, an automatic PTQ winner

Secondly, Knight of the Reliquary can go into a specific creature deck with a bunch of Forests and Plains and specialty lands, serving much the same function as “any creature deck” but with a more specialized function. It can beat. It can be good. But it can also perform surgery. It can be Dwarven Blastminer, grabbing Ghost Quarters to kill the opponent’s special lands. It can be a slow and inexorable Demonfire, finding Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree, eventually killing the control opponent… but it might take a while. It can even be a kind of Platinum Angel, finding Prahv, Spires of Order to force the opponent to commit more and more resources to the board even as it grows out of easy control.

Then there are the “Karoo” interactions, where Knight of the Reliquary is a kind of Benalish Heralds.

And of course the process of putting lands into the graveyard can give it a synergy with Life from the Loam or Crucible of Worlds (in this case you can call it a Terravore in a pinch).

Finally — that is “finally” in the context of things that I have thought of off the top of my head — Knight of the Reliquary can be a specific puzzle piece that finishes a deck strategy. Maybe it fills the role of a flexible Reap and Sow in a deck that needs to stick two or three different kinds of lands together like Legos.

Snap Judgment Rating: Role Player (high) to Staple (low-medium)

LOVE
MIKE

All Conflux

P.S. While you’re here, in case you haven’t read the previous post The Hidden Value of MTGO Ringers, check it out. The comments section is one of the most awesomest ones in the short history of this site, and includes an opening line by GerryT that is the equal of any strategy article that has been written this year. Do yourself a favor and check it out

A quick review on Conflux rare, Martial Coup.

Aesthetics:

So this is obviously my favorite card in the set.

I mean… It’s almost like a Decree of Justice stapled onto an Akroma’s Vengeance! It’s like my dream card!

(Sad as that is to say).

Martial Coup is even super expensive, like cycling a Decree for a million guys, or, um, playing Akroma’s Vengeance. Incidentally how much does it suck that Akroma’s Vengeance is going to rotate in Extended after this year? Man! 

Okay, back to Martial Coup…

Basically…

• At two mana it’s nothing.
• At three mana it’s sub-Squire.
• At four mana it’s barely playable in Limited.
• At five mana it would be pretty good in Limited, if the creatures had flying.
• At six mana it’s sadly Pro Tour Top 8 caliber… Yes, in Constructed*
• At seven mana… OH MY GOD HAVE YOU READ THIS CARD?

Okay, so the question is, what kinds of decks can make the seven mana required to kick butt with Martial Coup?

Where do I see this fitting in?

In Standard, the obvious answer is Reflecting Pool Control. That deck already plays sevens like Cruel Ultimatum. This isn’t as powerful as Cruel Ultimatum (even at seven) but it is so much easier to play. I was thinking of a U/r/W version (only three colors) for Pro Tour Kyoto and this might be a good option.

Over on Twitter** zeichen95 / Mark Ian suggested playing it as a one-of in Kithkin. That’s a pretty interesting idea, and a nice way to break open the mirror, especially for a beatdown deck that plays a million lands.

In Extended BDM thinks this is a card that can put U/W UrzaTron back into the mix. It is certainly quite powerful if you are playing it for seven or more, and ‘Tron is the kind of deck that can make seven or more.

The reservations I have about this card — and again I am very excited by it — are based on the fact that it does nothing until you hit a gigantic mana count (I cycle my Akroma’s Vengeances at least one third of the time by the way). That probably keeps Martial Coup out of four-of candidacy in most strategies that might be willing to play it.

Snap Judgment Rating: Role Player

LOVE
MIKE

* Bonus points if you know what I am talking about.
** To follow me on Twitter: Twitter.com/fivewithflores

All Conflux

A quick review on Conflux rare, Banefire.

Aesthetics:

The comparison to Demonfire are pretty obvious, so that’s what I’ll talk about first.

You guys probably know that I was a gigantic Demonfire fan. I played it in G/R Snow, This Girl, and other decks, usually as the killer. One of the most memorable games I had at the 2006 New York State Championships was over Christian Culcano; I swung with my Firemane Angel knowing that he could not resist — really had no recourse from — playing his gigantic Snow seven mid-combat (thanks to Teferi). I had Culcano’s mana tapped and I played ye olde Compulsive Research into a Hellbent Demonfire. We agreed whoever won that deciding third game was going to win the next two (and I upheld).

Thing is… I didn’t have nearly the mana I would have needed to go uncounterable with Banefire.

So the question is… What is easier, Hellbent or X = 5?

Actually… That’s not a question at all. It doesn’t matter. We don’t have the option for Hellbent and we are therefore stuck with this one… Which is fine! This is a very good card and I am going to enjoy — in the words of Jonathan Becker — “being able to win matches again.”

For some of the decks that were the most notorious Demonfire decks, such as B/R, X = 5 would not have necessarily been easy to hit (while Hellbent was pretty easy). On balance, the controlling decks that also liked Demonfire, viz. U/R/W control, will much prefer the X = 5 version. Like playing one of these might be good in Reflecting Pool Control even.

Where do I see this fitting in?

Frankly all different kinds of decks. G/R Ramp decks will be able to go big with this, Reflecting Pool control can play it as an alternate finisher, maybe even combo decks. For example can an Extended deck just produce 21 mana and kill you with this? Is that easier or harder than Storm combo? Blaze was a defining combo kill card a few years back; Banefire is just so obviously better… Do I really need to finish this sentence?

In a sense I am happy I didn’t get this as an official Top Decks preview card. To me it’s just obviously good and workable in lots of places and I don’t know what to say so much as look forward to actually playing with Banefire.

Snap Judgment Rating: Clear and present Staple.

Thanks for reading!

LOVE
MIKE

All Conflux