This week's cards all come from the Blessed vs.
Cursed duel decks, and most of them also come
from the original Innistrad block. It's
remarkable how well the two Innistrad sets
combine - the setting was clearly one that
Wizards of the Coast put a lot of effort into
designing, and this is a great time for fans of
the gothic horror world.
Ironically considering how beloved Innistrad
is, Geist of Saint Traft drew some anger from
players in his run in Standard. Not as much as
Invisible Stalker - at least he can be blocked -
but attacking as a 6/6 and being hard to get off
the table is something that people often want to
inflict on others but not face themselves.
That's not entirely fair to him, of course -
he's actually templated very cleverly, so that
he works with everything from Drogskol Captain
to Angel's Tomb. There's really so much more to
him than forum arguments about hexproof.
(For the record, Invisible Stalker shouldn't
have gotten so much hate either. It's basically
the same card as Silhana Ledgewalker, who was
considered just fine in her time. Don't start on
"she gets chumped by fliers", either - how many
decks can afford to throw their flying creatures
in her way turn after turn?)
So, the new duel deck set is out, and, well,
this is why anyone will buy one. Geist is still
effectively a 6/6 for 3 mana, with hexproof to
boot. It's 2/2 status doesn't exactly set the
world on fire, but hitting your opponent for 4
is worth the risk.
