New sets are always fun, especially when you
have innovative design beyond the obligatory
"Shock plus block mechanic" cards. Technically,
Magic has had variants on the gorgon's gaze
before, but there are few that explicitly tried
to show that the creature had been turned to
stone and now had the accompanying weaknesses. I
actually like this creature very much; while she
won't be winning any medals for pure power
efficiency, she does tend to take over a game if
left unchecked, and the ability to shut down
multiple creatures' activated abilities is often
relevant (see M12's Azure Mage, etc). If they
could have found a way to make her immune to
other gorgons' gazes, that would have been
ideal, but it's hard to quibble with what she
does offer.
Today's card of the day is Xathrid Gorgon which
is a six mana 3/6 Black with Deathtouch and for
three and tapping gives a target creature a
counter that gives it Defender, makes it a
colorless artifact in addition to its other
types, and prevents its activated abilities from
being activated. This is a very nice card
for flavor, though the high cost and not
actually removing the creature make this less
likely to be played when compared to classics
like Royal Assassin. The creature still
needs to be targeted, remains as a blocker, and
the effect has a three mana activation cost
which are also negatives. Looking away
from the effect a 3/6 with Deathtouch just
doesn't compare to the many five mana bombs
Black has had in recent sets. Overall this
isn't really a bad card, but Black has other
options that can enter play earlier making this
situational at best.
For Limited this is a very strong card to first
pick as it has high toughness, Deathtouch, and
can be easily splashed with only a single Black
in the casting and activation costs. It is
unlikely to die when attacked or attacking and
the Deathtouch should keep an opponent
from swinging without a major creature
advantage. If needed the counter is a
worthwhile method for dealing with large threats
or effect users and likely one of the few
repeatable options available. Sealed would
do well to splash this whenever possible and
little should be considered above this in a
Booster pack.
