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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Leveler 
Mirrodin Rare


Reviewed April  12, 2004

Constructed: 1.7
Casual: 2.3
Limited: 1

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all our 
Card of the Day Reviews 


Chris
Gerhardt

* game store owner in CA, ShuffleAndCut

Yes, yes... Leveler is huge. Yes, yes... Leveler is colorless and can be played in any deck.  Yes, yes... it's cost efficient at only 5 mana for a 10/10.  Yes, yes, Leveler is crap.

BUT....it begs to be combo'd!  Like casual? Got balls?  Want to try something crazy? Impress your friends and family?  Then consider the following cards suggested by our CotD crew to combo with Leveler:

  • Shared Fate - sure your library is removed, but you get to use your opponent's library...and your opponent gets to use... nothing! (BTW... your opponent does not auto lose since he "cannot draw".  Shared Fate uses a replacement effect. Instead of drawing, you "do this". So in actuality, no one can deck with Shared Fate on the board.
  • Platinum Angel - You can't lose, even if you deck.  So keep taking turns!
  • Stifle - Counter that whole "remove your library from the game" crap. Play on!
  • Eater of Days & Fling (along with Stifle above)
  • Pandemonium & Furnace of Rath - 20 Damage... BAM!
  • Soldevi Digger - Replace cards into your library.

Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 3
Limited: 1
Current Price: Leveler $1.99

   Combo's well with:
Shared Fate - Mirrodin - $1.59
Platinum Angel - Mirrodin - $11.43
Stifle - Scourge - $7.96
Eater of Days - Darksteel - $4.71
Fling - Stronghold - $1
Pandemonium - Exodus - $7.28
Furnace of Rath - 8th Edition - $3.51
Soldevi Digger - Alliances - $5

Hey Pojo.com Fans... I'm going to try something new here.  Do you have a combo idea?  Send me the name of the cards involved, and I will consider posting it on my CotD spot.  Just make sure your email Subject looks like this:   Pojo CotD Combo - (card names)
Email me HERE!!!
 


Judge Bill

*Level 2
MTG Judge

*game store employee

Leveler

Well, the theme for this week is "casual combos." Leveler has a few. To start off with, there is the obvious Shared Fate Combo, where you lock your opponent out of your library. You could also use stuff like Doomsday, Soldevi Digger, or anything that puts cards back on your library. Stifle would work too, to stop the removal of the library.

As janky as this is, it should be limited to casual only, as there are too many ways to disrupt your combo. Not even in limited, as the drawback is way too big.

Constructed - 1.5
Casual - 3
Limited - 1


DeQuan
Watson

* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)

* pro tour player

* Scrye writer since 2002

Oh man...I really don't like this card. Which is funny, because I like oddball combo pieces, but this one is so hard to work with. If you have something like Platinum Angel out, his drawback isn't so bad I guess. Also, if you have a stifle, it's useful. The best use for this guy is with Pandemonium :) You can though in Furnace of Rath and you can attempt to go off on one turn :)

constructed: 1
Casual: 2
Limited: 1


Jeff Zand
i

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

Level 2 Judge

Leveler
Let me "level" with you, this card is bad. This is the kind of card that the
Research and Development team at Wizards of the Coast calls a "skill
tester". A "skill tester" is a card that will seem attractive to bad players
but that better players will not fall for. A 10/10 creature for five
mana.gotta be a catch, right? Yeah, you lose your entire library when it
comes into play. There really is no way to use this guy judiciously in
limited, but it COULD be possible to build constructed decks around this
creature. Drop two of these on the same turn somehow and give them Haste
somehow. This is not a good card. The artwork looks like WOTC STILL has some Battletech artwork they hadn't used yet!

CONSTRUCTED: 1.5
CASUAL:            2.0
LIMITED:            1.5

Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge)

Leveler

 

Leveler is one of those trick cards that confuse you into thinking it’s a big creature. Its not. It’s a combo card. Even if the creature had haste, losing your library still means you’d still only do ten, and then lose next turn from no library. MAYBE if you gave it haste, and had Savage Beatings, Berserk or some such card, and they had NO blockers….

 

No, the fact remains that the card is really only good at one thing, removing your library from the game so you can use something like Soldevi Digger to stack your deck back to where you want it to be to set up the perfect game. But even at that, it does a bad job, costing five mana and being very disruptible. At least it has the benefit of doubling as a win condition….

 

Constructed:             2         

Casual:             2         

Limited:            1 

 
Jason
Matthews


* Level 1 DCI Judge

*game store employee

* gaming for over 15 years
Leveler

A 10/10 for five generic mana is pretty unheard of in the game of magic but occasionally you get supplied with a creature like Leveler. The most common way to balance a creature like this is to make its drawback so extreme that you can not justify playing it. In order to play this deck you have to insure that either when you play it you will win on that turn or find a way to trick it into play without losing you library. In constructed play I don’t see this card getting a lot of use because the risk and reward are just not good enough. In casual play you could run him with Stifle to avoid losing you library or maybe with Dark Steel colossus. In limited he really has no play value, because you don’t have access to the spell that let you negate his ability or have as much access to haste abilities.

Constructed 1.5

Casual 2.5

Limited 1

 

Jonathan
Pechon


2 Grand Prix Top 8's

Multiple Pro Tour appearances

Leveler

 

Is it big?  Sure.  Is it efficient?  Yeah, got that.  Does it cause you to suck the instant you put it into play?  Yep, you betcha.  While cute and flavorful, this is a horrid card that really just doesn’t have a place anywhere.  Nice try, guys.

 

Maybe you can work this with Soldevi Digger in casual games; that’s the only card that remotely makes me want to play this.  Unfortunately, that still doesn’t make it any good.

 

In draft, there are even *less* ways of making this playable.  Don’t try.

 

Constructed:  1.0

Casual:  1.5

Limited:  1.0

 
Chase

Secret Squirrel on the Pojo.com
Message
Boards

Leveler

Maybe with Stifle, but it’s main use that it’s the win condition in one of the most annoying rogue decks ever, Shared Fate. Without Fate, it’s pretty much useless. I could discuss how Shared Fate decks are built and whatnot, but I won’t. So simply put, it’s only good in Shared Fate decks.

In Limited, it’s horrible because Shared Fate and Leveler are both rare. Of course, if you got both in your opening hand (and the rest of your deck is all land) you would automatically win, but that’s not possible.

Constructed: 4 (shared fate), 1.5 (everything else)
Casual: 4
Limited: 1
 
Danny Tatro
Leveler
 
This week seems very casual so I'll just elaborate on the casual aspect of the cards this week.
You could have some fun with Shared Fate, or Stifle. Maybe Leveler and Eater of Days with Stifle? Fling too? BallsToTheWalls.dec? Could be fun! Add in Surestrike Trident and start striking out players one by one. Scrivenger to get back Stifle. Sounds like fun to me!
 
Constructed: 1
Limited: 1
Casual: In the deck above? 3.5
 
 

 

 

 

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