Much like yesterday's Devastation Tide, Terminus
is a sorcery that reset the board, with a very
cheap Miracle cost that gives its caster that
much extra mana and teh first opportunity with
which to rebuild. Unlike Devastation Tide,
Terminus puts the creatures it removes somewhere
it'll be MUCH harder to get them back from. This
is especially useful in a set with Undying,
Flashback, and so many graveyard-dependant
cards. In this environment, a Day of Judgment
might accomplish so very little, or even
backfire as your opponent's creature can be
recovered, his Spider Spawning was improved, and
his surviving Morbid effects just went live.
Terminus comes with no such concerns-- your
opponent isn't getting his dudes back from the
bottom of his library, and things like
regeneration, Undying or Indestructibility won't
stop them from going there. Granted, that means
you have to get that much more creative if you
want to cheat the Terminus yourself, but mostly
what we have here is a board wipe that white
control decks can really rely on to actually
wipe the board.
The word "terminus" simply means "end" in Latin,
and as such there's no shortage of things they
could have named it. Latin, though, is an
ancient language which is both the ancestor of
many modern languages and strongly associated
with power and prestige, giving this card a
strong air of finality and inevitability. Oh,
and I suppose its game text does that, too.
Actually, when you're on the wrong end of a
miracle-cost Terminus followed by a Frost Titan,
it feels like something a lot worse than that. I
have a subtle fear that incidents like that are
going to overshadow the fact that this card is
also an all-round solid Day of Judgment variant
that gets around abilities like unearth and that
rules paragraph on Moldgraf Monstrosity.
Today's card of the day is Terminus which is a
White six mana or one mana with Miracle that
puts all creatures on the bottom of their
owners'
libraries. Like other Wrath of God effects
this is very powerful in any format,
particularly Multiplayer, that also adds a
timely advantage against graveyard effects by
not sending the creatures there. Without
the Miracle this is appropriately costed and
would see play, but the chance for casting it
for one mana at Instant speed makes it top of
the line. Effects that allow you to draw
on an opponent's turn can really ramp this up
and Terminus will be a popular card for the
duration of the Innistrad block's presence in
Standard.
For Limited mass removal is the ultimate
equalizer and the cost is easily managed even in
a multicolor deck. The Miracle is great
nice bonus, particularly when other cards are
kept in hand to refill the battlefield and it
should always be a first pick in Booster.
In Sealed this is something that warrants
splashing White as it is too powerful to be left
in the sidedeck. Even a single White mana
can fuel it, though a few extra to manage other
White cards and hard cast it is recommended.
Welcome to the Pojo.com card of the day
section. Today we close out our week looking at
Terminus from Avacyn Restored. Terminus is a
rare white sorcery that costs four generic mana
and two white mana. Terminus says put all
creatures on the bottom of their owner’s
libraries. Terminus also has MIracl for one
white mana.
Yesterday we reviewed Devastation Tide
and I said it was not one of the best cards with
Miracle, today we are looking at one of the best
in my opinion. One white mana to put all
creatures on the bottom of their owner’s
libraries, if cast for the Miracle cost. And
even at six mana, that is not that bad for such
an amazing ability. Normally, white just
destroys, i.e. Day of Judgment. This gets around
that pesky indestructibility, and ensures that
any nuisances are properly handled. And if cast
for it’s Miracle cost, it allows you to gain
advantage because you would then be able to drop
out an army of your own if you’ve been properly
preparing.
