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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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Auriok
Champion
Fifth Dawn Rare
Reviewed May 21, 2004
Constructed: 3.3
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3.5
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
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Chris
Gerhardt
*
game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut |
Mmmmm.... what an
amazing early drop for White Weenie! Auriok
Champion flips the bird to black and red, and
gains you some life in the meanwhile. A very
solid creature that begs for a very solid deck to
find a home in for tournament constructed.
In casual, though an
amazing solid card, it lacks the pizzazz to
showcase in a deck. But...it still may find
it's way in disguised as a casual support card.
She'll be more than up to the task. She'd be
really fun with some token engines, like
Mobilization,
Soul Foundry,
Riptide Replicator, etc.
In limited, a very
decent drop. Her downfall is the double
White casting cost, which might make her hard to
get on the board early when she'll be most
effective. Still, a solid card, and if
you're going medium to heavy white, you include
her.
Constructed:
4
Casual: 3
Limited: 3.5
Current Price:
Auriok
Champion -
Fifth Dawn - $6
Combos
Well With:
Mobilization - Onslaught -
$3.72
Soul
Foundry - Mirrodin -
$6.11
Riptide
Replicator - Onslaught -
$2.12
For
those of you that are interested in
Fifth
Dawn
cards, I have the
FULL RARE SPOILER with cardtext/pics available for your
perusal through my auctions. There are some
really amazing cards in this new set, and you'll
definitely want to stop by and take a look!
AND...as a BONUS for my loyal readers...if
you bid on and win one of my Fifth Dawn eBay
auctions this week, mention that you found it
through my Card of the Day blurb, and I'll throw
in a
Free Rare
(of my choice) with each auction you win!
(Just email me at the close of the auction with
your auction info and mention this column!)
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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Auriok Champion
Ah, Soul Warden. How
many players in many formats loved you.
Now, we get the new
and improved version. For one more white mana,
you get protection from the two colors most
likely to be able to get rid of this guy. And if
they can't get rid of him, he'll get very pesky
very fast.
Trade for these guys
tomorrow, as they'll be a card that a lot of
casual players will want, and I have a feeling
this will make an impact in the competitive
constructed scene too.
And he's not bad in
limited, putting your life total on a very high
number, which is very hard to deal with.
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 4
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Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge) |
Auriok Champion
This guy seems to be a
case of Wizards of the Coast trying to combine
every good early drop into a two drop. He’s a Soul
Warden that has Protection from Red and Black. The
only think that makes him bad is the fact that he
costs two mana. Two of the same color mana at
that. So he’s not a splashable drop, and he just
isn’t what one would consider a “beat stick” at a
raging power and toughness of 1/1. While I am sure
this guy will see play, especially in draft and in
casual games, I don’t see him as being strong
enough to stand up to the current type two format.
Maybe if he had Protection from Red and
Artifacts….
Constructed:
2
Casual:
3
Limited:
3
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Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Auriok Champion
I would have killed to
have a creature of this quality in white weenie
years ago; as it is, this is going to make an
impact in a number of formats, showing up as the
new champion of aggressive white decks for quite
some time to come. If white creature decks were
any good, this would easily be the best creature
in them; as it is, we can only hope that changes
to the current formats help to make him more
playable.
He’s a little too
efficient and purposeful to bring a whole lot of
fun to the table, but he definitely should be
noted if you want to maximize your fun Clerics
deck. He’s also probably the best WW creature for
Mental Magic that you could wrangle up.
He’s going to be a
high pick in limited, and well he should be.
Dropping him on turn two probably guarantees that
you’re going to end up netting anywhere from three
to eight life during the course of a game at the
very least. The protection abilities will get in
a few damage as well as ensuring that you have a
very annoying blocker for the entire game. Solid
as a rock, though maybe not necessarily a first
pick (depending on how important the rarity is).
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 3.5
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)
* pro tour player
* Scrye writer since 2002 |
Auriok Champion
We all seem to like
Silver Knight. Lots of people liked Soul Warden
(especially the casual crowd). Black Knight
wasn't too bad. And clerics are a pretty neat
tribe.
I guess if we could
roll all of those things into one card, it would
look like this. That's OK by me though. This
card is more than acceptable and should see a
lot of play in all formats.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 3.5
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Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
Level 2 Judge |
Auriok Champion
Silver Knight and White Knight are the two big
brothers to lil Auriok
Champion. Like the Champion, they cost WW and each
only give you protection
from one of these two colors, but they are 2/2 and
have first strike while
this card has much less to offer in the combat
category at 1/1 and no first
strike. However, he basically has protection from
MOST targeted removal
spells, and can block red and black creatures all
day long while gaining you
a life point each time another creature comes into
play. This card is good
enough to be quite useful in constructed and
limited decks alike, but I
don't think it's good enough to get too excited
about.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 3.5
LIMITED: 3.5
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Andy
Van Zandt |
Auriok Champion
This may replace
soul warden in Alluren decks... and may see some
other odd deck placement too. A good "wall+lifegain"
in limited. I'd rather it was a mana more and
had another point of power, I think, but she's
still interesting (and obviously funny against
red weenie).
constructed 2.5
casual 3
limited 3.5
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Jason
Chapman |
Soul Warden was great
because it was a solid 1 drop. The new Soul
Warden, Auriok Champion unfortunately costs 1
extra mana. This begins to compete for space with
other good 2 drops in White Weenie. Even so Pro.
Red and Pro. Black are both desirable and life is
always good.
Constructed - Not
broken, maybe not even as good as Soul Warden, but
still solid - 2.5
Limited - Even with
double White I would consider this as a strong
pick for Protection and Life - 3.0
Casual - Great card
for group games with all those extra critters and
the ability to avoid removal - 3.0 |
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