Hello, loyal readers.  This is an interesting COTD week, namely because it is all a reviewer's choice day.   The reviewers have been assigned to take the cards that they think will see the most play from Stomp-a-trons.  Today, in third place, I think we have a tie between two spells.   One is a new draw-power engine, and the other is a kill spell that I missed my chance to review the first time.  Say hello to Energy Stream and Spastic Missile!

Energy Stream

Cost:  3

Civilization:  Water

Card Type:  Spell

• Draw two cards.

Mana Generated: 1

Rarity:  Common

Set:  Stomp-a-Trons of Invincible Wrath

Proclamation of Death

Cost:  4

Civilization:  Darkness

Card Type:  Spell

• Shield Trigger.
• Your opponent chooses 1 creature in their battle zone and destroys it. Rarity:  Uncommon

Set:  Stomp-a-Trons of Invincible Wrath

I think both of these will see a lot of play, for good reasons.   Let's review these two powerful spells.

Civilization:  Both of these cards fit well in their respective civilizations, and water and darkness are two of the best civilizations in the game.   These spells also play well with their respective themes, so they fit in well into decks featuring these civilizations.

Cost :  Energy Stream costs three mana, which means it's great for a quick draw, and it really only competes with Aqua Hulcus for the third turn drop position.   Proclamation of Death falls on the fourth turn, where it competes with Death Smoke (I'll get to that later), Locomotiver, Daidalos, among other things.  Still, it kills a creature pretty early in the day, so it isn't bad at all.

Abilities: Energy stream is draw power, plain and simple.  For three mana, you draw two cards, and get more resources to use.  An excellent pick.   Proclamation can be shield triggered out, and when it is cast, your opponent chooses one of their monsters and kills it.  Killing creatures is nice, but it would be much better if you could control the target yourself (like Terror Pit).

Now that we're reviewed these stats, let's see how they stand up!

Constructed:  Some will argue that Brain Serum is better than energy Stream because of it being a shield trigger, but the speed of Energy Stream is arguably better.   In the end, I guess it is a matter of personal preference.  4/5.  Proclamation of Death, on the other hand, looks good on paper, but I think it kinda fails to deliver.   Your opponent will always kill their most expendable creature, and you can't count on this to really save your butt in a tight spot.  I still prefer the reliability of Death Smoke to this card, but once again it is more of a matter of personal taste.   2.7/5

Limited:  Both are top picks here.  Draw power (Stream) kicks butt, and any form of monster destruction is a nice asset to your arsenal.   5/5 for both of them.

Wednesday:   2^nd most used from Stomp!

Hey everyone in the Pojo Forest! Yea, I know. I missed the last 2. Big test week for me. 4 tests in 3 days is not a good thing.

Anyway, I should be able to get this whole week. If not, then I’ll stick a carnivorous earwig inside of my brain…*Family Guy*

Yea. We all know about the 5 Civ by now, right? It’s only the big event that we all wait for 1 month after a release tourny. So, for this week, we’re gonna review the 3 most used cards that you will see at the 5 Civ.

Now, I think we all can tell what the 3 most abused cards will be. Natural Snare, Terror Pit, and Holy Awe. That’s a certainty. And in addition, I think we can all do without a week full of Staple reviews. We all know they’re good, I don’t need to be telling you it all again…

So this week for me, I’ll review the 6^th, 5^th, and 4^th most abused cards at the 5 Civ. It’s tough to say what could be used but I’ll choose the 3, like forcasting the NFL draft for the 15^th pick. Let’s see…What is the 6^th card gonna be? I know!

Crystal Memory

Civilization: Water

Type: Spell

Mana Cost: 4

Ability: Shield Trigger

Search your deck for a card and put it into your hand.

The Rundown

It was a tough choice. It was either this or Corile, but I figure you’d see this card in more Green/Water Decks. Plus, Crystal Memory is one of those cards that blue decks need to have, no matter what type it is.

The Positive Side

The card is flat out broken. Back in the day, precisely 1 year ago, Crystal memory had a strong competitor, or a good ally card, known as Dimension Gate.

There are the differences between them.

- Dimension gate is green and 1 mana less

- Crystal memory has privacy and is able to get any card

Crystal memory is great because of how it’s not constricted by what card it can get. It can get any card you want for 1 more mana than the Logic Cube or Dimension gate which search for Spells and Monsters, respectively.

Crystal Memory allows for any card to be searched, which makes it a whole lot more versatile. In addition, both of those two searchers force you to show your opponent the card. Crystal allows for compete secrecy for what card you get, so your opponent is left crawled up into a ball thinking “what could he be planning?” Or you could be like me and…uh…not cheat…<.<  >.>  <.<

Anyway, if you have a crystal memory and actually use blue and aren’t using it now…Then you might as well quit and see if you can still catch up on the non-existant Dot Hack CCG craze…

The Negative Side

Is there really a bad thing about searchability? I mean, I would love to have that kind of power in my Red/Black deck, but I don’t and most likely never will, which really sucks. Every other color has searching but Red and Black…

There is no downside to the card. Maybe that the 4 cost may be a little too excessive, but when you get a card that you need later on, you’ll be lovin yourself for that investment.

The other thing I guess is that it’s not always the best shield trigger. I mean if you have 1 shield left and they have 2 attackers and your hoping for a spiral gate and you get this, then you lose. Most of the time, it’s a good shield trigger, but it can be useless at times…

What else could you use? Nothing really. It’s really a solid card that I see no reason why not to use. You have nothing else to get some searching. You get drawing, but that only gets so far.

The Limited Side

The card is only better in limited, especially if you’re trying to use survivors, speed attackers, DBs, or evolutions. It can win you the game, so why not use it. I’d just be glad seeing it…

The Recap

Here’s the + and – Recap

Pluses

+ Searches for any card you want out of the deck

+ Shield Trigger

+ Privacy is in the card

Minus

- isn’t Darkness or Fire…

- Not the best shield trigger at times.

Constructed-5/5-I’d give it more, just out of pure jealousy…

Limited-5/5- Same with Constructed more, just add 1 :)

Art-5/5- Where’s my army of electrified-Bug-flying-bird things?

That’s it for the 6^th most used card, Crystal Memory. If anyone has a Q, triple C, or just wants to speak their mind, E-Mail me at my new E mail address

nimbly@gmail.com

or use the old one at:

pt_1bc_2@yahoo.com

Later Days…