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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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Meddling Mage
Planeshift
Reviewed January 18, 2005
Constructed: 3.60
Casual: 3.33
Limited: 2.50
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
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our
Card of the Day Reviews
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Jeff Zandi
5
Time Pro Tour
Veteran
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Meddling Mage
Props to Chris Pikula for creating this card
after winning the Duelist Invitational the
previous year. This card fit right into the
scheme of the Invasion block. Decently priced at
UW, the blue says "counter something" and the
white says 2/2 bear. This dude is primarily
found prowling around in blue/white control
decks where Meddling Mage is particularly
effective at curtailing the opponent's play of
an easily predicted part of their winning
strategy, especially when the opposing deck is
based around any kind of a card combo. When you
played booster draft in the Invasion block (this
card is obviously from Planeshift) multiple
colors wasn't too much of a problem, so Meddling
Mage could be drafted and played fairly
effectively even in limited.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 4.0
LIMITED: 3.0 |
Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer |
Meddling Mage
As a Judge, I was never a big fan of this card
as it brought up a bunch of silly annoying rules
issues for players I was forced to answer over
and over. As a player though, I loved this guy.
He was control and beat down all rolled into
one, and fit nicely in one of my favorite decks,
Counter Sliver.
While admittedly he is pretty useless in
limited, in constructed he's a great 2/2 for two
mana, and in multi player if you can keep him
alive he can simultaneously annoy your enemies
and support your friends, and is a great card to
play "let's make a deal" with in multi player. I
love this guy.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 2 |
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The
Game Closet - Waco,TX) |
Meddling Mage -
Tuesday
This guy is so much fun. And when I look at the
art, I'm still amazed at how much it really does
look like Chris Pikula. The card is great for a
lot of different decks.
It's main purpose is stopping that problem card
until you get a real answer or a way to deal
with it. This card is amazing in casual games
too. The problem is that your opponent may
eventually get upset with you for playing it.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 2 |
Paul
Hagan |
Meddling Mage –
This is another card that, like yesterday,
probably appeals to more tournament players than
anyone else. In limited, his effects are, er,
limited, and for casual players, unless you are
specifically aiming to take out a buddy’s deck,
you can rarely get a good idea what to call (at
least early in the game). However, once you hit
the tournament scene, if you have a good concept
of what the metagame looks like in the room,
Meddling Mage can be your best friend. He allows
you to cause headaches for any number of decks,
especially those with only one removal spell or
one win condition.
Constructed Rating: 3.0
Casual Rating: 2.0
Limited Rating: 2.0 |
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Andy
Van Zandt |
Meddling Mage
More cards should have a similar mechanic where
you name a specific card (and aren't just
discard or lobotomy effects). It promotes
playskill in general, in any format. This guy is
a very efficient grizzly bear, since he, in
effect, is generating hopefully at least 1 card
worth of advantage by restricting your
opponent's play options. He also obviously shuts
down specific plans, in a very anti-combo way...
or, in some cases, to protect your combo.
constructed 3.5
casual 3
limited 3.5 |
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Chris
Gerhardt
*
game store owner
(Shuffle and Cut) |
Meddling Mage
An interesting
control card that took a while to find its
niche. It definitely takes an excellent
player to use this card correctly...someone
that knows and understands the environment
he's playing in intimately. In that case,
mage is very powerful. If not, he's dead
weight.
Mage is
particularly effective against combo decks
that depend on 1 or 2 cards to pull of their
bag of tricks. If Mage can eliminate them
from being played, it's game over. Decks
that do better against Mage are well-rounded
decks that don't depend on any particular
card for their win. Rogue decks can fare
well also, mainly because the Mage player
doesn't know what to name, a condition that
may change game 2.
In casual, it
can be effective if you play against the
same group of people a lot, and you know
what cards they play. But if you're playing
against different people a lot, the casual
format is probably too random for Mage to be
of use.
In limited, it's
a sideboard card at best, against some
insane bomb that you feel you must stop.
But at least it's still a bear, and worth
playing if you are in the right colors.
Constructed
- 4
Casual - 3
Limited - 2
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Jeff Zandi |
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