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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day


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Azusa, Lost but Seeking 
Champions of Kamigawa


Reviewed October 5, 2004

Constructed: 2.4
Casual: 3
Limited: 2

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 


Scott
Gerhardt

This card screams to be played with all the blue guys that return lands for effects.  If you can draw additional cards, Azusa can also be good.  There are a lot of very versatile uses for this card.  Of course, a 1/2 for 3 is not good stats at all, so they'll likely kill it without too much problem.  At least you can use the ability the turn it comes into play if you have the lands. 

Look for this card to be comboed with other things, especially in block constructed.  In type two and even extended, people might try to abuse this like the did Exploration.

In limited, it's pretty bad.  It will often not really do anything for you, so I don't really see a reason to play it.

Constructed: 4
Limited: 1.5


Chris
Gerhardt

* game store owner in CA, ShuffleAndCut

Combo combo combo!!  Get your lands into play the TURBO way!  (See Bill's write up below).

For only 3 mana, Azusa does some fun tricks for you, plus doubles as an attacker if you need it to.  We'll see if the Type 2 version of the Turbo Land deck catches on.  If so, this will be amazing. If not....

In limited, this could be interesting, if you have a few things that are mana intensive, and you play heavy lands.  In casual, you can run the Turbo Land casual version and have a ton of fun! 

Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 2.5

   Current Price:

Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Champions of Kamigawa - $6.52

   Combos Well With:
Soratami Cloudskater - Champions of Kamigawa - $0.39
Crucible of Worlds - set - $6.87
 


Judge Bill

*Level 2
MTG Judge

*game store employee

From the creators of Fastbond and Exploration, we have an exciting new sequel. It slices, it dices, it attacks for 2. Not only that, you can put 2 extra lands in play each turn, not just one. Now playing at a theater near you.
 
OK. So we have this deck called "Turboland." Its whole idea was to put multiple lands into play each turn. This would fit great in that deck, as not only do you get to drop double the lands, you can attack while you are at it.
 
In standard, not that exciting unless you want to play combo: (from Starcity)

Azusa, Soratami Cloudskater, and Crucible of Worlds. In the mid-to-late-game, they form an impressive combined card-drawing and mana engine. Imagine it with me: you've got six mana on the table, a Cloudskater, and Azusa, and a Crucible. Azusa makes your first three card draws cost half the mana (tap three mana, pick up a land and draw a card, discard the land you picked up, play it from the graveyard untapped).

 
There may be some casual fun things out there to accelerate to your fatties. A decent card all around.
 
Not for limited play, as the ability is only good in the early game, and if you are able to make use of this ability in the early game, then you're most likely short on spells in your hand.
 
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 2
 


Jeff Zandi

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

Azusa, Lost But Seeking
This Legendary Human Monk is desperately seeking...SOME kind of useful
ability. In most games, constructed or limited, the ability to put
additional lands into play is only good early, if at all. Joe Azusa here
costs three mana. How exciting will it be to play an extra land on turn
three? Not very exciting. To make a card like this good, you need a very
focused (re: COMBO) deck.
CONSTRUCTED: 1.5
CASUAL:           3.0
LIMITED:           2.0

Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer

Azusa, Lost but Seeking

 

This card is one handy way to ramp up your mana. With a first turn elf, Azusa comes down on turn two and suddenly you have a great mana ramp up. The hard part is getting mana in your hand. While this is not the best ramp up card ever, its going to see some play in combo decks and some decks with a lot of card draw, and fits pretty nice as a casual deck card. In limited, its pretty unreliable as a mana acceleration tool, so I wouldn’t suggest it, unless you just wanted another creature…

 

Constructed:                 3

Casual:                         3

Limited:                        1

 


DeQuan
Watson

* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)

I'd expect very few players to be happy about this. Combo decks can definitely use this, but beyond that, it seems sort of week. TurboLand might play it. And honestly, I could even see enchantress decks playing one or two of them. Overall though, I think it holds very little value.

Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 1.5
Paul
Hagan
Azusa, Lost But Seeking --

At first glance, I was *really* liking Azusa, but after I had a chance to think about it, I'm not so sure she is that good. People will obviously begin to compare her to Exploration, but there are a couple of huge differences. First, Exploration really allowed you to explode out of the gates with your mana; Azusa makes you wait a turn or two. Second, Exploration was hard for some decks to get rid of; Azusa can be taken out by almost any deck. Finally, Exploration really was in a different time, when there were silly cards like Horn of Greed; Azusa is in a calmer, gentler environment. I won't degrade the card entirely, though -- think of the fun with Azusa, Crucible of Worlds, and anything that allows you to sacrifice a land for a cool effect.

Outside of tournaments, I'm not sure why you would play Azusa over Exploration, unless you just can't find the older, better variant of this ability. It's all around weaker, especially because its a creature, so I'd say just pass it up. However, I won't say that the card is completely without its uses in the right deck, so props to anyone who finds a way to use and abuse this card.

In limited, Azusa seems pretty sub-par unless you are attempting to do something tricky with your cards, which I would usually recommend against.

Constructed Rating: 2.0
Casual Rating: 2.0
Limited Rating: 2.0


Andy
 Van Zandt

Azusa, Lost But Seeking
Super Exploration!  But more expensive and fragile.  Because of that,  while
I do expect her to show up in moonfolk decks (she seems tailor made to do
rude things with the spirit, counter, and cloudskate ones),  I don't see her
doing much else.  She gets a 3 in limited just for how good she is at that,
though.
constructed 2
casual 3
limited 3
Chase

Secret Squirrel on the Pojo.com
Message
Boards

Azusa, Lost but Seeking

I’m not too sure about this card.  Of course there’s the obvious thing that this cards breaks a rule in magic; playing more than one land a turn.  My response to this is, sure it does that, but can you break it multiple times without this getting killed?  No.  It has a fine ability that everyone is going to love but I’d probably say it’s not worth it.  Green is already used to playing multiple Bop, Elves, and other low casting cost spells, and this ability while nice, isn’t really needed.  You’re unlikely to have more than a couple lands in your hand, and the only way to abuse this card is to keep drawing lands, which green does not like to do.  I guess it’ll be tried out, but I don’t think it’s really needed in any green deck. 

In casual, it has small toughness and power, and its ability isn’t needed.  It’s cool, but once again, people are used to building around decks that play one land per turn.

In limited, it’s also out of place.  Basically, you play this, get an extra land, and this thing gets killed.  How useful.

Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 3
Limited: 2

 

 

 

 

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