Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more!

Pojo's MTG
MTG Home
Message Board
News & Archives
Deck Garage
BMoor Dolf BeJoSe

Columnists
Paul's Perspective
Jeff Zandi
DeQuan Watson
Jordon Kronick
IQ
Aburame Shino
Rare Hunter
Tim Stoltzfus
WiCkEd
Judge Bill's Corner


Trading Card
Game

Card of the Day
Guide for Newbies
Decks to Beat
Featured Articles
Peasant Magic
Fan Tips
Tourney Reports


Other
Color Chart
Book Reviews
Online Play
MTG Links
Staff



This Space
For Rent

Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day
Daily Since November 2001!


Image from Wizards.com

Top 10 Cards of 2009:
#10 - Maelstrom Pulse

Alara Reborn

Reviewed January 4, 2009

Constructed: 4.25
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 3.75
Multiplayer: 4.25

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 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Maelstrom Pulse

To paraphrase one of my favorite old cards from Judgment: "Vindicate was gone; Vindicate was everywhere." This is nearly as flexible and situationally even more powerful than its similarly-colored ancestor, giving you game against hordes of Saprolings and Siege-Gang Commander. And the popularity of Jund's colors in Standard right now means that if you play that format, you should expect to have this card pointed at your side of the table at least once a week.

Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 4/5

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today we start our top ten of 2009 card countdown with number ten's Maelstrom Pulse. This is a solid removal card as generally Black and Green often have some sort of restriction on their removal and rarely can either destroy an Artifact at all. With the added ability to destroy any kind of token swarm or Planeswalker this is pretty much a must have for any deck that can access these opposing colors.

In Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer little else can do what this does and for just three mana. Almost any non-land threat is vulnerable and this offers a great counter to tokens, Planeswalkers, or even just used for a two for one when multiples of the same target are in play.
At worst it belongs in sidedecks as an answer to the above situations.

For Limited the opposing colors would normally be an issue, but in the format three or more colors is encouraged. Multiples of anything are few and far between, but just a three mana destroy any non-land is an early pick for any Jund player. If playing in a Sealed or Booster this should be the kind of card that leans you towards the shard and drafted as often as possible.

Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.5

BMoor Maelstrom Pulse

Largely compared to Putrefy, the spell that defined green and black in the days of Ravnica. While the Pulse has a much wider variety of possible targets, and can even on occasion take out multiple permanents (or even an entire army of tokens), Putrefy still has the honor of being an instant, while Pulse is a sorcery. Of course the best thing about Pulse is that it usually gets cast for free from a Bloodbraid Elf's cascade.

Constructed- 3.5
Casual- 3.75
Limited- 3
Multiplayer- 3.5

Copyright© 1998-2009 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.