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

Phyrexian Rebirth
Image from Wizards.com

Phyrexian Rebirth
Mirrodin Besieged

Reviewed Feb. 22, 2011

Constructed: xx
Casual: xx
Limited: xx
Multiplayer: xx

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 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Phyrexian Rebirth
 
Not exactly "Obligatory Day of Judgment Variant," is it? This card happens to punish your opponent committing creatures to the field even more than usual, and it tries to offer something that makes you feel slightly less bad for casting it the turn after something like Siege-Gang Commander. While the effect isn't as consistent as Sunblast Angel, I could imagine a deck getting some mileage out of this card, especially if it was a deck that didn't superficially look like the kind of deck that would play Obligatory Day of Judgment Variant.
 
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Phyrexian Rebirth which is the newest concept of Wrath of God coming in at six mana, but also putting in an X/X colorless Horror artifact token into play equal to the number of creatures destroyed by the effect.  The cost is a bit high and getting one creature for the extra two mana is technically worth the additional cost, but the slower speed hinders it in Constructed formats. 
Blue/White control may run this or some kind of White/Artifact lockdown, but the high cost and nature of modern Constructed is likely to keep this to the Casual or Multiplayer formats.
 
For Limited this is a huge bomb, an easy first pick in Booster, and worth playing whenever possible in Sealed.  Mass removal that also gives you a creature is an advantage that is at the top of the curve and should never be passed to an opponent.  Normally a Wrath of God effect is situational as it clears your board as well, but this Rebirth avoids that as it does leave you with something which makes using it less concerning in some situations.  Used correctly this creates a big card advantage and will often put the user in a position to win the game.
 
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 5.0
Multiplayer: 4.5

John
Shultis
Phoenix
Gaming

   Welcome to pojo.com’s Card of the Day. Today we are taking a look at Phyrexian Rebirth. And I have to say, token decks rejoice! For four generic mana and two white mana, you destroy all other creatures, and replace it with an artifact creature token with power and toughness equal to the number of creatures destroyed this way. If you are producing a decent amount of creatures, this is a good way of hitting your opponents, then wiping the field, replacing the creatures you had with one giant creature ready to finish off your opponent next turn.

   In a Standard environment, it is easy to produce tokens, but not as easy as Vintage. With cards such as Elspeth, Luminarch Ascension, and Nomad’s Assembly, producing tokens in Standard resolves mainly on White, which suites the Phyrexian Rebirth just fine. And what’s even better, is if you use Elspeth, Knight Errant’s final ability, it is only your opponent who loses creatures, while you get an indestructible token in their place.

    Once we reenter the realm of Vintage, yet again one card pops its face in, Doubling Season. Because really, who would want just one huge token when you could have two? Other than the Doubling Season, it is easy to produce tokens in Vintage. And that just makes more stuff to remove with the Phyrexian Rebirth. And of course, what is one of the best things we could do with something so large? Why sacrifice it for some hardcore direct damage, what else? And some of the best methods to do so would include either Fling or Rite of Consumption. Because hitting, and hitting again is fun, especially when it gains you some life in the end.
 
Limited: 4/5
Casual: 5/5
Constructed: 4/5
Multiplayer: 5/5

 

Phyrexian Rebirth
Any card that simultaneously wipes the board of creatures and puts a creature into play under your control is going to e very tough to beat. Six may seem like a lot for a Day of Judgment effect, but remember-- Martial Coup cost seven mana to be a board wipe, and saw a lot of play. Sure, Martial Coup could be cast cheaper if all you wanted was tokens, but it was frequently cast as a board wipe. Phyrexian Rebirth serves the same purpose a 5-or-over Martial Coup served, for one mana less. And Rebirth is scalable with the number of creatures it kills, so it's especially strong against token decks and weenie rush decks-- which are exactly the kinds of decks you'd want a board wipe against anyway. And since it counts your stuff too, you don't feel so bad about playing a few creatures knowing full well you've got this in hand... which gives you more blockers and suggests to your opponent that you're not planning on wiping the board any time soon, encouraging him to play out more creatures and thus be further devastated by your Rebirth
Constructed- 4
Casual- 4.5
Limited- 4
Multiplayer- 4.5


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