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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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Zodiac
Dragon
Portal 3 Kingdoms Rare
Reviewed August 9, 2004
Constructed: 2.08
Casual: 3.33
Limited: 2.75
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 |
A nice huge creature that recurs itself.
Combo this with
Sneak Attack, and you've got quite a nice
thing going on! If your opponent does not have
enchantment removal on hand, it really gets nasty
for them. One interesting note...this is one
of the few dragons that does not fly.
Portal 3 Kingdoms in
English is one of the rarest sets ever printed.
The set tells the story of Chinese history, and
speaks of their great legendary figures that
shaped that history. It's really quite
fascinating. The Zodiac Dragon is the chase
card of the set, and is the most expensive post
Unlimited set card currently in print at $100 a
pop.
In limited, if you
have a chance to take this in draft, just pick it.
Considering you just plucked a $100 bill from a
pack, you barely need to care about the outcome of
the matches. Though, if you get it into
play, hooray for you!
Constructed:
3
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4
Current Price:
Zodiac
Dragon -
Portal 3 Kingdoms - $100
Combos
Well With:
Sneak
Attack -
Urza's Saga - $18.75 |
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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or, "summon
target judge to quash all sorts of bombo
ideas."
I'd put even
money on at least one of my comrades
(probably multiples) trying to tell you that
this is an infinite combo with Wild Mongrel,
Psychatog, or any card that gets a benefit
of discarding it from your hand. The card
even says so, right?
Thankfully,
Wizards recently gave us Oracle text for all
Portal cards. (But, no, they are still not
allowed in sanctioned tournaments.)
The Oracle text
of Zodiac Dragon is as follows:
Zodiac Dragon
{7}{R}{R}
Creature -- Dragon
8/8
When Zodiac Dragon is put into your
graveyard from play, you may return it to
your hand.
The most
expensive card of the Portal 3 Kingdoms set,
probably for the mistaken bombo idea. Still,
it's a recurring 8/8 fatty. That goes a long
way in most casual games. Pair this with
Sneak Attack, and you get an 8/8 every turn
for 1 red mana. Works really well with
Recurring Nightmare, too. A fun card all
around, even with the cleaned up rules text.
As it's not
legal in any environment but casual, that's
the only rating I'll give today.
Casual: 4.5
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Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
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Zodiac Dragon
Wow! I’m reviewing a Three Kingdoms card! That’s
a new first for me! One of the VERY FEW Magic
cards that I’ve never owned! Anyway, the ability
for the Dragon to return to your hand whenever
he goes to the graveyard is GOOD. The fact that
this giant flying reptile costs nine mana is
BAD. I love big red dragons, but this one just
doesn’t have what it takes to be considered
playable. Also, it looks like this guy doesn’t
even have flying… (by the way, I’m a Chinese
ZODIAC DRAGON myself, born in 1964!)
CONSTRUCTED: 2.0
CASUAL: 2.0
LIMITED: 3.0 |
Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer |
Zodiac Dragon
Remember that time
that someone put a Portal Three Kingdoms card in
the Card of the Day list, and I was writing up
my Card of the Day reviews while running events
at Hexacon, and I was using the Type One Oracle
for reference for the cards, and of course
Zodiac Dragon was not in the Type One Oracle,
and I had no idea what the card did, and had to
write a really long run on sentence in hopes
that no one would notice I really was unable to
review this card?
I remember that
time.
Constructed:
2
Casual:
4
Limited:
3
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX) |
Zodiac Dragon - Monday
I'm not sure how good this guy really is. I just
think he s worth snagging up. He's one of the
highest dollar cards in Magic since the early
sets. He costs a lot to play, but he is an
endless dragon. That being said, he doesn't fly,
which is a bit odd. Casual guys love this just
because the creature never goes away and it's a
dragon. In limited play, I would take it and hop
to use it as a late game finisher, but wouldn't
bet on it.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 3
Limited: 3 |
Paul
Hagan |
Zodiac Dragon --
I'm slightly disappointed with Zodiac Dragon. I
haven't had any experience with the card, so
when I saw it on the CotD listing, I thought it
might be fun to review a card that I had never
seen before. How wrong I was. Zodiac Dragon has
a number of problems. First, it is way too
expensive for serious consideration in anything
but a deck that tricks it into play (see:
Reanimate, Sneak Attack). Next, for its cost, it
doesn't really do much. It's an 8/8 with a
mediocre ability -- returning a creature to hand
is OK, but when it means you have to sink
another nine mana to put it into play, I'm not
sure its even worth it. This card won't be
seeing play in any Constructed deck I play, and
more than likely the same for limited. Casual
players, however, might find a use for the
Dragon through cool combos or, as said above,
with decks that trick it into play.
Constructed Rating: 1.5
Limited Rating: 1.5
Casual Rating: 2.5 |
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Andy
Van Zandt |
8/9
Zodiac Dragon
He needs to fly, and that's a lot of mana, but
again, self-recurring creatures have their uses.
One of the higher dollar portal cards that
hasn't been reprinted. And it's a dragon.
constructed 2
casual 3.5
limited 2.5 |
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Chase
Secret Squirrel
on the
Pojo.com
Message
Boards |
Zodiac Dragon
Portal eh? I
dont know much about this set, but I found
out that this is one of 12 cards that is
based on the Chinese Zodiac. So it has
flavor, and its a recurring 9 cc 8/8 flying
dragon. If you can ever cast it, I guess it
could be fun, but protal isnt legal in
constructed. So it only has Casual.
Casual: 3
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w00t |
Zodiac Dragon -
Boy this card
would be good if the silly oracle didnt
exist.
Constructed -
Portal = Banned.
Casual - Phoenix
type abilities, such as this zodiac dragon,
are a personal favorite of mine. This could
be real potential fun with an Aether vial.
Get it to 9 counters (Use help, such as
Coretapper, or Energy chamber). Than you can
bring out a husk, or anything that sacs for
help, and if you really wanna get super,
intruder alarms, Aphetto Alchemists, etc.
Either way...... this with Vial seems the
way to go.
Casual - 3.0
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