Before we move on to Invasion...

[Seeker of Truth]

For some reason, we're already sitting here talking about Invasion, and Prophecy hasn't even been released yet!

Anyway, what I'm looking for is everyone's opinions on what cards from Prophecy will be big in Constructed play once Prophecy becomes legal in July. Especially since none of you responded to my other post about my sealed deck.

My favorite picks are Shield Dancer, Diving Griffin, Reveille Squad and Plague Wind. I REALLY wish that Diving Griffin was a Rebel, but a 2/2 flyer that doesn't tap to attack is a great deal for 3 mana. Shield Dancer blocks anything on the ground (my opponents wouldn't even attack with anything once this hit the board), and Reveille Squad allows you to attack with unblockable creatures or flyers and still get them back on defense if you need them, or a free untap of cards like Llanowar Elves or Deepwood Drummer if your opponent attacks. Plague Wind flat out wins games in sealed (I won every game I managed to cast it in), but I think, with mana acceleration, it can hit just as hard in Constructed (although Massacre may do the same thing in most situations).

Are there any other standout cards out there? If you played the card in a prerelease, all the better, but you don't have to limit yourself to cards you played with (although I did).

 

[Gumby Khan]

Come to think of it, my pre-release deck didn't have much Prophecy in it. I used the green creatures like silt crawler, 2/1 trample pig, 1/1 swampwalk, and the regen. enchant that can be played as an instant. My black was the 1/1 regen guy who made opponents toss a card if it dealt damage, 2/2 mercenary that players had to pay 2 or lose 2 life if it dealt combat damage, 3/2 unblockable if no untapped lands, and a 1/1 flyer that tap/sac a land to fetch a merc 2 or less. Not too impressive, really. My power was in Masques. Thrashing Wumpus, Dawnstrider, Vendetta, Snuff Out, Deepwood Drummer, Rushwood Herbalist, Snorting Gahr, Invigorate, and Primeval Shambler. I would have to say the best prophecy card I used was the green one sided tranquility. Although, my friends used broken cards like squirrel wrangler and Searing Wind. Another friend thought Megata, the lion was going to run amok, but he seemed to have trouble with it. Harmonic Convergence also wasn't a player and my poor friend went 1-5 trying to make this work. Can't recall much else, but I remember fearing the 3/4 flyer for 2UU. Just what blue needs, another cheap flyer! Steal Strength was also nasty, but not as bad as Wild Might. Ooh, that hit me for 9 on turn four! Gotta keep 2 open from now on...

 

[Seeker of Truth]

Gumby Khan:

I also thought that all those winds, avatars and legendary spellshapers would at least cause some kind of stir at the prerelease, but I never had any played against me at all. I did get to catch a glimpse of an Avatar of Might (with Power Matrix!) squaring off against an Avatar of Hope, but other than that, the "big" stuff in Prophecy was relatively quiet (except for my own Plague Wind, of course ). I had the hardest time against some of the common and uncommon creatures that were hard to block due to some evasion or deterrents to blocking (like Thresher Beast and Death Charmer, and particularly Stormwatcher Eagle, which not only had flying but could be unsummoned if the controller sacked a land).

I really like green's creature complement coming out of Prophecy. I'm already envisioning an Argothian Wurm/Thresher Beast LD deck, and I'm sure cards like Pygmy Razorback (the 2/1 trampler) and Silt Crawler (3/3 for 3, but you have to tap all your lands afterwards) will eventually fit into stompy after Urza block rotates out. Vintara Snapper (2/2 for 2 green that can't be targeted if you're tapped out) is another good cheap green creature, and of course, Wild Might will really hurt against tapped out opponents (or if you can force your opponent to tap out with, say, Gulf Squid...). Even Darba looks good, although it feels like a card from Weatherlight with a similar cost and drawback that was never played...

I don't know who said white got shafted in this set, but although it had the worst Avatar and the worst Wind, there are a lot of great cards in the set. I've already touched on a few, and I also think Mirror Strike is a twist on Eye for an Eye that may actually see play, at least as a sideboard card against green and aggressive black or red. I think Mageta the Lion can still be a good card, if put in the right deck (Replenish, perhaps?), but I think Celestial Convergence is simply too hard to break, especially in sealed (four turns to bring it into play + another seven to remove the counters = 11 turns for your opponent to either kill you or leave you on the short end of the life total), and I don't think constructed will help any, because you still have to wait seven turns before the effect kicks in no matter what.

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

Sorry bout the INVASION post! I was talkin about it to one of my freinds and I decdied to post it here. Anyway, I really like Prophecy. Its got alot of FUN cards. And alot of interactive cards as well. I also like the sychrony of the entire MM block. There is alot of thought going into this block (Maybe not idea waise- but defiently shaping the game). I like Avatar of Will the best

 

[Seeker of Truth]

FoundationOfRancor:

No, there's nothing wrong with speculating on Invasion already, I just thought that we could at least talk a bit about the set that's upcoming before we move on to the other set that's forthcoming...

I think WotC R&D hit the nail on the head ( ) when they said Prophecy would force players to think more about what their opponent is doing and not just worry about putting together their own combo or beatdown. Anyway, more interaction in this game has got to be a good thing, because I've noticed that the least interactive decks (basically combo decks), while they tend to be successful, tend to have that "dirty" feeling to them, and certainly wouldn't be suitable for play in a casual environment.

I wonder, also, if Prophecy may introduce the idea of deliberate mana burn to the game. In an emergency it might be to one's advantage to tap out and take the mana burn in order to either prevent a blocker from getting through or to force one's own creature through.

 

[Cateran Overlord]

Prophecy is a great set, but then I've liked all of the masquerade cycle more than evil evil Urza's block. I think my personal favorites of this set are everything Keldon(except Latulla, I'd personally rather have a Cinder Elemental, but hey), and moreso even then that is one very overlooked card: Task Mage Assembly.
This card is so overpowering that it's not even funny when you use it with red's Veteran Brawlers adn Two-Headed Dragons and other big fat. But I've lately realized that this is just too good when paired with green. Think Mossdog, this actually make the little thing a rather intriguing card. It has the same effect on it as a Masticore, but you opponent cant afford to target it. Even stronger are two other creatures, one of which i think is one of the best creatures in the set: Vintara Snapper and Blastoderm. If you can't target them, then they start beating you senseless. I could go on and on about TMA, but just try it yourself and see.