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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Image from Wizards.com |
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Mesmeric Orb
Reviewed January 19, 2004
Constructed: 2.8
Casual: 2.7
Limited: 2
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
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our
Card of the Day Reviews
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Chris
Gerhardt
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game store owner (Shuffle and Cut Games,CA) |
Though I would have
passed this card up in a draft until there was
mostly crap left, I actually saw it in action
while observing a draft game a few weeks ago.
Whoa.....! The player waited until he had
decent board control and his opponent was heavily
tapped, then played this thing. At first, at the
sight of Orb hitting the board, everyone was
like... WTF?!? But then it slowly sank in.
His opponent would most likely have to tap a lot
and multiple times to get enough board control
back to win the game by attacking. But that would
mill away his library, possibly decking him very
quickly. And if he did play something and
mill, his opponent could always counter with his
own spell, just making sure he milled less of his
library away in the process. His opponent was up
the proverbial creek unless he could draw artifact
removal, if he even had any left.
Interesting.
But even after seeing that, I still would not play
it as it's too situation dependant. If you don't
have firm board control it's a dead card in your
hand unless you can play it at the very end of a
stand off to deck your opponent. Or worse,
if you LOSE board control after playing it, you've
screwed yourself. But I still did think the
above game was interesting to watch.
In constructed, it
could do much better as you would build a deck
around milling abilities, most likely. It
would be a blast in a casual deck, for sure,
especially if you enjoy frustrating your
opponents.
Constructed:
2.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 2
Current Price:
$4
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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An interesting
Millstone companion. Looks like it would hurt
the control deck though, as it would cause the
deck playing this to lose cards whenever they
countered something.
But man, this thing
is annoying in the right deck. A deck dedicated
to milling the opponent to death, along with
Reminisce backup for protection against decking
yourself would be really annoying. Trust me,
I've played against it. =\
Also, this, Seeker
of Skybreak, and Reanimate (with Dragon Breath
in grave) = insta win.
I don't see this
being played long in casual, though. Even if you
get one successful play, people will refuse to
play against it any more, because it is "no
fun."
In limited, too much
of a crapshoot for me. I can't control who decks
first with any reliability, and while you might
be able to get a late game surprise with this,
I'd rather not rely on it.
Constructed - 2.75
Casual - 1.25
Limited - 2.25
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)
* pro tour player
* Scrye writer since 2002 |
Mesmeric Orb
This card has turned
out to have some serious potential. Many people
wrote this card off when the set first came out,
because the effect actually hurts both players.
As time has gone on, many players are changing
their tone. It is starting to see a bit of play
in both Standard and Extended.
In casual play, this
card just creates chaos and problems for
everyone. If you have fun doing that, then
great. For group games, this can be a riot.
But I don't truly see myself playing this very
often for fun.
As for limited play,
this card seems to have little or no value to
me.
Constructed:3
Casual:2
Limited: 1.5
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Andy
Van Zandt |
Mesmeric Orb
it's a card that, in general, depends upon
pro-activity on your opponent's
part. Not exactly the best start. With, maybe
Sands of Time to back it up,
and in the right environment- but then you also
need a way to stop yourself
from suffering the ill effects... not worth the
effort for such a slow and
fragile death.
Constructed-1.5
Casual - 2.2
Limited -1.7 |
Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge) |
Mesmeric Orb
Go Go Gadget Super
Whetstone! This is one fun card to play. Obviously
meant for millstone control decks, this card has a
lot of fun potential in it for repetitive
re-animator decks as well. In constructed, its
fun, its potentially powerful, and worth playing.
In limited, unless you want to sneakily try to use
it as a late game kill mechanism, it just doesn’t
have the power you need.
Casual: 5
Constructed: 3
Limited: 2
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Jason
Matthews
* Level 1 DCI
Judge
*game store employee
* gaming for over 15 years |
Mesmeric Orb
The mesmeric orb is a fun
card that has managed to find its way into
tournament play. It can be used in the right deck
to mill your opponent very quickly if you catch
them with a lot of permanents tapped. I don’t find
it as useful in limited because with such a small
card pool in a draft you could end up losing the
game to it yourself. In casual the card is one of
the few I like call “just plain fun”.
Constructed 2.75
Casual 3
Limited 1.25 |
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Chase |
Mesmeric Orb
Funny this card
should be mentioned. A deck based around this
crushed my Goblin deck. It wasn’t even funny: 2
turn Cop: Red, next few turns 2 Howling Mine, 2
more Mines, then Orb. Ironically, I was playing
with 61 cards and he was playing with 60. But,
when I decided to count my library it was 20-21.
Blah. Anyways, you obviously need to build a
deck around this card in Constructed as you
don’t want to be randomly milling away your
cards.
In Casual, it’s
fun, but I would rather be smashing my opponent
with big creatures and combos. But this can be
just as effective.
In Limited, it
will probably be hard to focus your deck enough
around this. Besides, a lot more artifact hate
is played in limited than in constructed.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 3
Limited: 2
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Spooks |
Mesmeric Orb
Well, I could say
stuff about this card, but I worte an article
for it awhile ago, and hopefully you shall all
see my opinion on it soon.
Constructed rating -
2 - 5 (Depends what snazzy technique you are
using)
Casual Rating -
Guys, all Casual Ratings can be anywhere from 1
- 5. Casual games are about what you as a
player likes to do. Doing a casual rating is
liek asking m to read the minds of all the
readers. And honestly, the readers should be
able to determine if the like it or not by
reading what the reviewers have to say. So
yeah. My first and final casual rating! May as
well give it a number...hmmm 938457385893.2
Limited rating - 2 -
4 This will make games quick, no doubt. Whether
it wins it for you or your opponent is another
question.
Very big rant about
a silly rating rating - Shuttup Luke and do your
job!
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