If I recall correctly, all the argentum stuff in
Scars of Mirrodin was linked to Karn. That,
along with its game text, implies that this
armor is an aspect or successor to the Legacy
Weapon, which is pretty cool. As often happens
with cards like this, the cost is almost
prohibitive (see Worldslayer from last week),
but the effect is almost certainly worth it.
It's kind of ironic, though, that despite
artifacts being able to go in any deck, this
kind of pushes you towards either white with its
Stoneforge Mystics and Puresteel Paladins
(assuming the former isn't banned in your chosen
format) or towards green with its mana
production abilities.
Today's card of the day is Argentum Armor which
is a six mana equipment with an equip cost of
six that gives +6/+6 and whenever the equipped
creature attacks destroy target permanent. The
effect is excellent and the boost is very solid,
particularly on a creature with a form of
evasion or other notable combat effect. The cost
is far too high for competitive use, but this is
one of the best targets for effects to get it
into play and equipped without paying the mana
cost an will be a regular sight in equipment
builds for Casual and Commander.
In a Limited format with this it may take
time to get into play and equipped, but when it
is part of an attack it will win games with the
destroy effect even if an opponent manages to
block it. As anything blocking is unlikely to
survive this can destroy two cards every turn
until damage gets through or all opposing
resources, such as lands, are destroyed. A solid
first pick in Booster that fits into any color
deck and easy inclusion for every Sealed build.
Today's equipment is a unique one. Usually,
we think of equipment as support to help out
some good creatures. I'll confess, that's how I
looked at this card for a long time. I thought,
for an equipment, it was far too expensive to
even consider using.
In this case, however, it's more than a support
card. It turns any creature into an absolute
monster. While it's clear the casting cost and
equip cost are significant hurdles, the payoff
is tremendous.
If there were a creature that read like this,
would you play it?
Argentum Monster 6
Artifact Creature - Juggernaut
Echo 6
When Argentum Monster attacks, destroy target
permanent.
If you control no other creatures, sacrifice
Argentum Monster.
If Argentum Monster is in your graveyard, you
may pay 6. If you do, put it onto the
battlefield. It gains haste until end of turn.
7/7
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? The analogy
isn't perfect, of course, but it does help us
look at the armor a little differently. It is
the threat in and of itself - it just needs a
buddy to come with him. It's more like the
equipment is wielding the creature. I can see
this being played in a green deck with lots of
mana elves and such. Ramp up quickly and throw
this on one of your elves. If they kill the elf,
you've got plenty more, and plenty of mana to
equip.
Argentum Armor isn't for everyone, but it's
power is undeniable, and it's cost is
reasonable. It does require you to build around
it, however, whether you're cheating in the
artifact or ramping up to it. It provides a
beefy body for a deck of any color - or no color
- and if your opponent can't deal with it, it's
game over very quickly.
Most of the equipment we've looked at over the
past two weeks haven't actually given the
creatures who wield them that big of a power and
toughness boost, surprisingly enough. But as we
end off Armor Week, that changes today as we
look at the single most powerful boost a piece
of equipment can give a creature in the entire
game.
Argentum Armor.
+6/+6 makes this the strongest armour in the
entire game. No weapon gives a greater
power/toughness boost than it either. Karn, who
built this apparently, does some VERY good work.
Unfortunately there's a "but" coming. Because
as you know, "powerful" doesn't always mean
"good." An instant that does 20 damage to all
opponents is powerful, but if it costs 100 mana
than it isn't really good. Argentum Armor costs
a total of 12 mana before you can start swinging
with it, 6 to cast and 6 to equip. However, much
like Moonsilver Spear, the benefit is so good
here that it is actually worth it to jump
through all the hoops to try and make this thing
work.
It's not just that Argentum Armor turns the
most unassuming 1/1 Saproling token into a 7/7.
It's not just that it turns your Khalni Hydra or
Moldgraf Monstrosity or Liege of the Tangle
finishers into nearly unstoppable 14/14's with
trample. It also destroys stuff. Every time you
attack. Any target you want. A creature,
enchantment, artifact, a planeswalker, a land.
You name it, and if it's not indestructible,
it's gone.
So clearly this is awesome enough that you'd
want to find some way to cheat it into play.
What are some good ways to do that? Well, this
is probably the best situation you could ever
hope for to play Quest for the Holy Relic. It
might take some turns, but you can start early
and it'll save you from both the casting cost
AND the equip cost! The best part is, normally
if you're playing Quest you'd want a fair amount
of generally inexpensive creatures so you could
pump out a bunch of them fast. This would
normally be weaker in the late game, but
Argentum Armor completely negates that weakness
by turning one of your smaller guys into a giant
beatstick to be feared. And if that one dies,
just throw it on some other guy! Now HE can be
the giant beatstick to be feared. Our good
friends Puresteel Paladin and even Brass Squire
can also help out if you want them to.
I really shouldn't have to tell you how good
a +6/+6 bonus and destroying a permanent you
want gone every turn is, but just in case: it's
really good. Like, REALLY good. It may or may
not be 12 mana good, but it's definitely 6 mana
good if you can cheat one of the other costs.
And it's *definitely* 1 mana good if you decide
to Quest it out. As always it's more fun and
also easier to run these kind of narrow
specialized decks in casual and limited, where
big creatures are fun and slow decks that
require time to set up are more viable. A deck
where the win condition is "get Quest in my
opening hand" is going to have a hard time in
constructed. But if you're just throwing one or
two copies in with say a slower control deck
that has Puresteel Paladin in it, it could still
work out as a finisher.
I didn't need to mention that argent means
silvery and that Karn was a silver golem, did I?
Nah, I'm sure that wasn't important.
Well, it looks like that's it for Armor Week
as well. It was definitely a lot of fun looking
at all this equipment, from sets old and new.
Who knows what awesome and dangerous things
we'll be looking at next week? I don't, but I'll
keep a sword and a shield ready just in case...
