Well its that time of year again... Dark Ascension is upon us....

Appart from sounding like a dodgy goth night... We ask the obvious question is it any good and will it be fun or broken?

Well we'll have more ideas after the pre release, but here's what I'll be looking for...  for long term projects at any rate....

This card makes me sad... but despite this I shall be doing all I can to get as many as possible on Saturday... It will be an  absolute must for commander / edh and is frankly more wrong than snogging yer granny...

For those of you who don't speak foreign, it basically reads as... I spent £20 on this card so I can break the game of magic and labour under the impression that I'll look really cool in the process...or counter target spell
and play one that shares a type with it from your hand without paying its mana cost.. or in other words... sit smugly back with nothing but open lands and do nothing until you eventually get to 6 mana then win the game with what ever over powered uncastable bollox is currently doing the net deck rounds...It's not like drawing cards or digging is hard in blue... Well done... Wizards of the coast you have reached a new low....

Here's the actual text...

Counter target spell. You may cast a card from your hand that shares a card type with that spell without paying its mana cost.

and if that wasn't bad enough...

They've dropped this monster on us as well...

Curse of Echoes
Enchant Player
Whenever enchanted player casts an instant or sorcery spell, each other player may copy that spell and may choose new targets for the copy he or she controls.

No 1 pick for every EDH Commander deck from now on (at least in EDH it might be funny...)

Ok so we've gotten past the fun killers how about the rest of the field?



Well one might think that Wizards may have learned what happens when you make cards with flash back cards that cost less mana to cast from t he graveyard? Well like I asid you might think...

The whte mana here is almost not worth having.. I  mean don't; get me wrong...in a black and white deck it would be even stroinger, but as a card that reads pitch me and get two 1/1 white fliers for my mono black deck it doesn't seem bad at all.. hell 2 flliers for 3 in mono white isn't horrendous...



Staying with white.

With old spethy still in the top decks this guy is a must have... and for any token deck... tap to add a 1/1 is nuts... this could get broken...

I haven't had a real chance to go through the cards in great detail, but in black there are a couple that jump out...

Ignore the basic reprint of master's call on the left.... I'm talking about the Tragic Slip.. there aren't many situations where -13 -13 won't save your neck and it's not hard to have something to kill in  black... I can see this card getting some play....

and whether this bad boy sees play is a moot point.... I'm just glad it exists..
.

Increasing ambition is good too and double tutors in EDH are always good...

In red I love...

Card draw in red is tricky and add flash back and this is great...

For the Jonny Combo in all of us this could be a very quick clock...

Especially if you add it to

Increasing savagery 3 double green

Put five +1/+1 counters on target creature. If Increasing Savagery was cast from a graveyard, put ten +1/+1 counters on that creature instead.
Flashback
Ii mean sure its double green, but then we remember this...

See I'm at it already...



OK so I'll mention a couple more....

Ok so my favourite over powered monster is this... I mean how many abilities does a card need?
I can see this in the counterlash deck...I'm just glad folks don't like playing blue white control decks... Oh wait...

And for sideboard card of the set... I reccomend...(it's also good if you want to make enemies in EDH) or want to take up Legacy... These last two cards are going to go up in value

But the meta figher in me will always try and find some sneaky cheap way to win games and still have money for beer and my tip to this end is this curious little number...

I reckon this this jank rare is more playbale that in looks...  I can see it in a red aggro deck with elements of control... It could save spent blockers and zapped attackers early game and late game there ain't much it won't stop... and that ulitmate could be a game winner... 


update 26th... thanks to Brighton's James Tann for reminding me of this little bit of insanity....

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/magic_single_card.asp?cn=Havengul%20Lich&ref=hover

another top pick for saturday... How he'll do in sealed I don't know but in constructed he could be  a gem...

And what about the Palneswalkers?

And I have to mention this geezer... I sincerely doubt he's going to keep the silly price tag because his abilities are just a little bit tame compared witth others....