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!

Timely Reinforcements
Image from Wizards.com

Timely Reinforcements
M12

Reviewed Sept 2, 2011

Constructed: 3.90
Casual: 3.67
Limited: 3.90
Multiplayer: 4.17

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 of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Timely Reinforcements

White has long had a subtheme of "you're not allowed to have more than me". Usually it shines through in effects like Gift of Estates or (in very olden days) Balance, but lately White has shyed away from bringing opponents down to their level and focused more on building up to match the opponents. And Timely Reinforcements does that quite well, giving you the potential of 6 life and three 1/1's for a mere three mana. Of course, to get that, you have to be behind on life and creatures... though not behind everybody, just at least one opponent. And the same opponent doesn't have to e the one with less life and the one with fewer creatures, so in multiplayer, this could really shine. Even in a duel, this could help you turn around a losing battle, especially when the opponent has already expended a good chunk of his resources and you can climb back in the fight with one card.

Constructed- 4
Casual- 4
Limited- 4
Multiplayer- 4.25

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Timely Reinforcements
 
I've got to say, this card looks like a very potent weapon in the right situations. Elspeth Tirel does similar things, but she does it slightly later in the game and can only do one thing at once. Many red decks will already have you in a position where you'll get both bonuses by the third turn, making it a useful tool for control archetypes. Even creature decks might like this, as it doesn't care whether the difference in number of creatures is one or seven; you can leverage the advantage with something like Bloodthrone Vampire, Soul Warden, or Keldon Warlord, too. I'd like to see how it works alongside Ravnica's Hunted Phantasm, myself. It's a seemingly simple card with a surprising variety of applications.
 
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5

Paul

Welcome back readers its Friday got to get down on Friday..Ahem today’s card  of the day is Timely Reinforcements the new foil to aggressive decks. Currently playing a large part in white control decks as well as other places, Timely  Reinforcements provides the added oomph of life gain to frustrate aggressive decks and provide some tokens to hold down your defense or get aggressive.  In standard this card has  been widely adopted against more aggressive decks stratedgies such as Red Deck Win’s where players gain benefit from the life gain immensely and the tokens. In extended/modern I suspect the card will see play for the same purpose in a wide variety of decks most   notably blue/ white control. In legacy I see potential here but what will life gain do against 3/3 Wild Nacatl’s and Kird Apes?  Although it could be used to battle aggressive red decks. In casual and multiplayer its life and produces more than one solider token sure to make it a popular choice for casual players around kitchen tables as well as having more players around to trigger it. In limited it’s a solid card taking a few points of damage and gaining a buffer and some defense or offense against X/1 creatures is valuable. Overall a highly useful card that is both constructed and casual worthy.
 
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 3.0
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3.5

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Timely Reinforcements which is a three mana White spell that gives six life if you have less than an opponent and three 1/1 Soldier tokens if you have fewer creatures than an opponent. 
It is fairly easy to get both effects if you let your opponent play the first creature and attack you with it, or in Multiplayer where at least one player is likely to have more life and creatures than you, which makes the card quite efficient.  The life gain by itself isn't worth playing the card in your deck and requires you to be lower than your opponent, but the tokens are good for a control theme if facing someone running a more aggressive build.  Overall the card is playable for the right theme and will likely see some tournament slots, though it takes a bit of skill to use effectively without playing to lose.
 
In Limited the same strategy used in Constructed works in this format and no support is required which makes it fairly powerful if the three tokens enter play against an opponent with a single creature.  That possibility puts this as an easy inclusion for Sealed and an early pick in Booster for the general advantage it can offer.
 
 
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 4.5

John
Shultis
Phoenix
Gaming

     Welcome to this weeks final card of the day review here at Pojo.com! And for such an occasion, we called in some quite Timely Reinforcements. Timely Reinforcements is a white uncommon sorcery that costs two generic and one white mana. Timely reinforcements says that if you have less life than an opponent you gain six life. And if you have less creatures than an opponent, put three 1/1 white soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
     This is a pretty good uncommon. One of my favorite applications for a card such as this is using it to exploit the Phyrexian mana. Pay some life to get yourself lower than an opponent, then cast this to regain, and more than likely come away with more life than them, with something else fun on the field. It really fits well in that scenario because then ultimately you could be using Elesh Norn to pump those “little’ 1/1’s into a formidable 3/3, since your opponents creatures would be much weaker. This also would be beneficial with another New Phyrexia card, Suture Priest. If you had less life when this spell was cast, you would ultimately be gaining 9 life if an opponent also had more creatures than you.
     All in all a very good uncommon, perhaps one of the most useful in the set.
 
Limited: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Constructed: 4/5
Multiplayer: 5/5

TDogg

Timely Reinforcements is a card that I think shoots down a lot of red decks in standard.  Any deck that has white either main boards some or side boards more.  Either way this card is simply amazing.  Six life and three bodies on the board when you're losing.  What kind of requirement is that, of course I would only play this card when I am losing!  This is one of those cards that I feel has more of a home in standard than any other format.
 
I honestly feel like this card is a little worse in a limited format because it meant to neutralize a fast paced deck.  A limited format, however, has a much slower pace.  Let be honest, in a limited format theres a good chance that they will have some 6/6 fatty out that you would never see in standard.  Don't get me wrong, I think its still a great card, but I don't feel like in impacts the board as much.  Think about it, when you play this against red decks, most of their creatures are small, and its more for them to deal with, while in limited they could just get a fatty out, all this really did was buy you a turn.
 
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayed: 4.0


Copyright© 1998-2011 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.