Born of the Gods...Magic the Gathering set review.

I pre-ordered my first ever booster box of Magic The Gathering cards in January, on the first day that they allowed me to at the Tangled Web in Spartanburg.  I was solidly excited...I love Greek styled things like the God of War video games, and I have a Fat-Pack box full of Theros cards from the previous set.

All through January, I kept up with the web chatter about the upcoming set, as was a little disappointed that more awesome stuff wasn't revealed.  This is billed as a small set...165 cards as opposed to 249 cards in a big set.

In the Pre-Release, it seemed no one hardly got any gods or planeswalkers.  I have yet to see an Ephara card.

I told myself, "Well, I am getting a box in a week.  I will get some good stuff."

What I really wanted was outlined in this post.  I didn't hardly get any of this stuff.  The one copy of Phenax was nice...How about three more, or at least an Ephara.  (Unreasonable, you say.  I got three copies of Tromokratis.  And Three copies of Eater of Hope!!  ARGGH)

No Brimaz.  In fact, I have only seen one, in the case at the store for $40!  (The only way I am going to get him for the fencing ace deck is trading or out of a booster pack.)  No Herald of Torment.

I only got one Phenax, and one Kiora.  I got a Mogis as well, but traded him to SpartanNerd #1  (He wanted it really bad).   I also got that Chromanticore for my hopeless Mazes End deck.  On the other hand I bet I have a playset of each common.   I got plenty of uncommons, but almost no complete playsets of them.   But I thought I would at least have four copies of Bile Blight or Searing Blood.  Nope.  One copy of Bile Blight.  That's it.  I am going to have to pay out or trade for more copies.  (That was a card I was really hoping to get four copies of.)

MY RATING

I am pleased with my investment...It was good savings and a way for me to jump into the new set.  But I didn't score anything major with a box of boosters.  I was left still wanting.  And I don't like that one bit.  I know, they are called Mythic Rare for a reason.  But a person who orders a booster box is a loyal customer, and should be rewarded better.

My booster box gets a 2\5.  I am a loyal customer.  I will pre-order another.  I know it is a gamble.  This time I feel I have a foundation,  but not the nice house on top.

The Born of the Gods set gets a 3\5.  What are we comparing it too?  I would give Theros a 5\5. I would give Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash both 5\5.  Core Set 2013 Also gets 5/5.  So there's your reference, readers.  BOG is OK.  It seems to continue to support the Black devotion strategy well, and adds options for beatdown decks.  Tribute is a wicked mechanic, while Inspired promises to create some combos.  I hate that they axed Monstrosity, however.  The new god cards are nice, but I wish they had weapons, and I also wish their devotion requirements weren't so high.  Some of the rares in this set seem to be as powerful as uncommons in some other sets.  Then there are a few useless cards...Eater of Hope (I now own 5 copies!) Heroe's Podium, Champion of Stray Souls, Nessian Wilds Ravager, etc.  BOG scores 3/5 because it does work well with Theros, but on its own, it is kind of weak.

Born of the Gods Pre-Release Excitement

Just two more days until we get our first taste of Born of the Gods in a sealed deck tournament.

I signed up for Blue as my color of choice...My logic being it is usually the blue cards that I have a hard time getting.  My color is black, so I figure I will get all of those I need anyways.

Sealed deck is challenging.  Luckily they have put all of the cards online ahead of time.  This sealed deck will be half Theros and half BOG, so, it might not be that hard after all.  I can't wait to draft BOG.  It was fun to draft Theros.

What cards will I get?  Definitely Arbiter of the Deal, Ephara, or Phenax.  I really want Phenax.  He seems like the most powerful of the new gods, in my Esper style.  Ephara doesn't seem so bad either.  As for the Arbiter, It is a late game play.  I hope I don't get that one so much.

Can you imagine this card with a bunch of Pack Rats?  You could mill big!  

Other cards I hope to see?  Bile Blight!  Meletis Astronomer!  Brimaz, King of Oreskos!  And Hero of Iroas!

Playing multiples of this guy should be great!  Bestow stuff for cheaper!

I'm thinking the white cards may be good in the Fencing Ace deck*, while the other cards just interest me a lot.

What about the black cards?  Herald of Torment seems like a winner, as a bestow demon.  I refuse to believe Champion of Stray Souls was meant to be played in Standard.  It is expensive, and its abilities can be accomplished other ways with less mana.  Maybe they are pushing tribal Skeletons or something.  But he isn't legendary, so...

This guy can be bestowed, so you are ramping up that black devotion!

The other card I am really looking forward to is Chromanticore.  A ridiculous card.  But I have a pet project of a Mazes End deck, and Chromanticore should fit in there nicely.

Of other cards, Hero of Leinna Tower seems to be one of the most promising green cards.  Searing Blood is going to cause some problems.

This whole set seems to want to squash out small token strategies.  Stuff like Searing Blood and Bile Blight seem to be aimed squarely at the Selesnya token style.

Oh yeah.  Minotaurs are going to be beast in Booster Draft and Standard.  And Ragemonger and Mogis are ridiculous.

In other words, I think I pre-ordered the best color.  I could have went with white.  But blue here seems to address some of what the rest of the set is doing.  And the Inspired mechanic that triggers when stuff untaps is going to cause some craziness.

I intend to keep everyone informed on what happened at my Pre-Release (Seeded) Sealed Deck tournament.





*OK.  A little bit of rant.

You.  Poet.  Write this down.

It seems like Heroic is the favorite mechanic of the Wizards.  They are always touting the benefits of hitting something that has heroic and causing craziness.  And white seems to carry this mechanic the best.  It is great when it works, 30% of the time or less.  Most of the other time, your creature gets removed and its auras go to the graveyard as junk.
I want to believe in the Heroic mechanic.  It is very satisfying to hit a Fabled Hero with Madcap Skills and Ethereal Armor on turn 4 and smack your opponent for a ton.  (At least 10).  But people like Fabled Hero are too easily burned, canceled, or otherwise snuffed out.  I want to believe in Savage Summoning, but this pushes the color wheel to four colors.  Not where